Current:Home > ScamsA new Mastercard design is meant to make life easier for visually impaired users-InfoLens
A new Mastercard design is meant to make life easier for visually impaired users
View Date:2025-01-10 01:50:08
Approaching a register to pay for a morning coffee, for many, probably feels routine. The transaction likely takes no more than a few seconds: Reach into your wallet, pull out a debit or credit card and pay. Done.
But for customers who are visually impaired, the process of paying can be more difficult.
With credit, debit and prepaid cards moving toward flat designs without embossed names and numbers, bank cards all feel the same and cause confusion for people who rely on touch to discern differences.
One major financial institution is hoping that freshly designed bank cards, made especially for blind and sight-impaired customers, will make life easier.
Mastercard will distribute its new Touch Card — a bank card that has notches cut into the sides to help locate the right card by touch alone — to U.S. customers next year.
"The Touch Card will provide a greater sense of security, inclusivity and independence to the 2.2 billion people around the world with visual impairments," Raja Rajamannar, chief marketing and communications officer, said in a statement. "For the visually impaired, identifying their payment cards is a real struggle. This tactile solution allows consumers to correctly orient the card and know which payment card they are using."
Credit cards have a round notch; debit cards have a broad, square notch; and prepaid cards have a triangular notch, the company said.
Virginia Jacko, who is blind and president and chief executive of Miami Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired Inc., told The Wall Street Journal that feature also addresses an important safety concern for people with vision problems.
People with vision problems would no longer have to ask strangers for help identifying which card they need to use, Jacko said.
The new feature was developed with the Royal National Institute of Blind People in the U.K. and VISIONS/Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired in the U.S., according to both organizations.
veryGood! (7)
Related
- These Yellowstone Gift Guide Picks Will Make You Feel Like You’re on the Dutton Ranch
- Court takes new look at whether Musk post illegally threatened workers with loss of stock options
- Aspiring writer wins full-ride Angie Thomas scholarship to Belhaven
- A portrait of America's young adults: More debt burdened and financially dependent on their parents
- What’s the secret to growing strong, healthy nails?
- The 'mob wife' aesthetic is in. But what about the vintage fur that comes with it?
- Pregnant Sofia Richie Reveals Sex of First Baby With Husband Elliot Grainge
- With beds scarce and winter bearing down, a tent camp grows outside NYC’s largest migrant shelter
- California researchers discover mysterious, gelatinous new sea slug
- Cute Valentine's Day Kitchen Essentials That Will Make Baking a Piece of Cake
Ranking
- Review: 'Emilia Pérez' is the most wildly original film you'll see in 2024
- Kerry and Xie exit roles that defined generation of climate action
- How Sofia Richie's Dad Lionel Richie and Sister Nicole Richie Reacted to Her Pregnancy
- Facebook parent Meta picks Indiana for a new $800 million data center
- Dick Van Dyke says he 'fortunately' won't be around for Trump's second presidency
- Biden unveils nearly $5 billion in new infrastructure projects
- Police officer’s deadly force against a New Hampshire teenager was justified, report finds
- Raheem Morris hired as head coach by Atlanta Falcons, who pass on Bill Belichick
Recommendation
-
Francesca Farago Details Health Complications That Led to Emergency C-Section of Twins
-
GM's driverless car company Cruise is under investigation by several agencies
-
A house fire in northwest Alaska killed a woman and 5 children, officials say
-
Facebook parent Meta picks Indiana for a new $800 million data center
-
Footage shows Oklahoma officer throwing 70-year-old to the ground after traffic ticket
-
A California man is found guilty of murder for killing a 6-year-old boy in a freeway shooting
-
WWE's Vince McMahon accused of sexual assault and trafficking by former employee. Here are 5 lawsuit details.
-
Middle school students return to class for the 1st time since Iowa school shooting