CSA/ASC B651.2:22

OverviewConsidering accessibility in the design of products, systems, environments, and facilities is key to ensuring equity for all Canadians. Removing barriers to accessibility makes products easier to use for people with disabilities. As well, many accessibility features benefit those who do not have a disability by creating more usable and customizable design. More than one in five (22%) Canadians aged 15 and over, an estimated 6.2 million people, have one or more disabilities1. With this in mind, removing accessibility barriers is not only beneficial, but it makes good business sense to increase access for all customers, including those with disabilities.The standard B651.2, Accessible design for self-service interactive devices including automated banking machines, is a revision of previously existing standards. It works to improve the accessibility of self-service interactive devices, a term that refers to any machine where the user may need to:enter data, read presented information, respond to prompts, or select from a number of choices for a service to be performed.The standard was developed by the CSA Technical Subcommittee on Accessible Design for Automated Banking Machines and Self Service Interactive Devices, under the jurisdiction of the CSA Technical Committee on Accessibility and funded by Accessibility Standards Canada.The CSA/ASC B651.2 standard provides guidance for the accessibility requirements for these devices, and specifies technical requirements for the design, manufacture, site preparation, and installation of devices like automated banking machines. The new edition of CSA/ASC B651.2:uses revisions made by a committee of industry experts and people with lived experience of disability; combines the existing standards CSA B651.1, Accessible design for automated bank machines, and CSA B651.2, Accessible design for self-service interactive devices into a single standard that maximizes accessibility; evaluates new evidence to bring the standard in line with current best practices; reflects improvements in hardware, software and overall technology; and optimizes the requirements of the old standard to ensure continuity within the new standard.