Mastercard has introduced the Touch Card, offering an accessible card standard for blind and visually impaired consumers.
The Purchase-headquartered company noted that the new standard of cards with flat designs without embossed named or numbers makes it difficult for the blind and visually impaired to differentiate between their cards.
The new Touch Card offers a tactile difference by including a round notch on the Mastercard credit cards, a broad squarish notch on the company”™s debit cards and a triangular notch on its prepaid cards. All of the cards work with point-of-sale terminals and ATMs.
Mastercard added that its concept has been vetted and endorsed by VISIONS/Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired in the United States and the Royal National Institute of Blind People in the United Kingdom The card was codesigned by IDEMIA, a French provider of identity-related security services.
“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,“ says Raja Rajamannar, chief marketing and communications officer for Mastercard. “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.”
