McDonald’s to add assistive technology for blind customers to all US company-owned stores
McDonald’s will add assistive technology for blind customers at all company-owned restaurants in the U.S. by the end of this year, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.
The technology will be added to existing kiosks in company-owned stores in California, and 25% of those in other U.S. states.
The company will add the technology to all new kiosks installed in U.S. stores after July 1, including those in franchised restaurants, which represent about 95% of its roughly 14,000 stores.
The technology includes keypads and headphone jacks on the touchscreen kiosks. Blind customers can connect headphones to the kiosk and browse the menu with a screen reader and tactile arrow buttons.
The company upgraded its technology after the National Federation of the Blind raised concerns about issues blind customers were reporting with the assistive technology the company introduced in 2015, according to the Journal.
The revised technology is provided by TPGi, a consulting firm owned by Vispero and Storm Interface.