The Commonwealth Bank has come under fire from disability advocates for its nationwide rollout of EFTPOS machines which they say are inaccessible to blind and vision-impaired people.

Key points: Groups say blind people can't use terminals because they don't have tactile keypad

Groups say blind people can't use terminals because they don't have tactile keypad Blind Citizens Australia calling on bank to stop rolling out machines

Blind Citizens Australia calling on bank to stop rolling out machines Graeme Innes says current situation compromising security of blind people having to reveal PIN numbers to staff

About 75,000 Albert touchscreen terminals are now in use around Australia, as point-of-sale EFTPOS devices at many businesses, such as coffee shops, boutiques and restaurants.

Unlike other EFTPOS machines, the touchscreen tablets do not have a tactile keypad, meaning blind people cannot independently use them.

Blind Citizens Australia is now calling on the bank to stop rolling out the machines, until the technology is able to be used by all people — with or without a disability.

Executive officer of Blind Citizens Australia Emma Bennison said the organisation is receiving complaints from members every week, saying control over their finances has been compromised.

"It is a point-of-sale device, an EFTPOS device which has no buttons on it … it has a touch screen," Ms Bennison said.

"So when you go to your local coffee shop, or your local restaurant, or perhaps your clothing retailer, it's very common these days to walk up to the counter and find that you can't enter your pin number independently if you are a blind person."

Ms Bennison is the executive officer of Blind Citizens Australia. ( Supplied )

Ms Bennison has experienced the problem first hand.

"I went to a restaurant the other night and I was paying the bill for a number of people myself and my family and I couldn't use paypass and my husband is also blind, and I have young children so there was no-one else to assist me.

"And the staff at the restaurant knew nothing about to make the Albert accessible."

While the Albert tablets can take pay-wave transactions, anything over $100 requires a pin number.

And when you cannot see the touchscreen, that is a problem.

Personal security being compromised

Former disability discrimination commissioner Graeme Innes has encountered the same issue with the machines on several occasions.

"I've come across them in pubs in shops, all sorts of places, and effectively because they use a touch screen, I can't as a blind person use them," Mr Innes said.

Mr Innes has encountered the terminals on several occasions in the past. ( Supplied )

"I can use any of the old-style EFTPOS machines or any of the EFTPOS that other banks have because I can put my finger on what is like a telephone keypad and press the numbers for my pin number.

"But of course I can't do that on a touch screen.

"I've got two or three shops where I still owe them money because they said, 'we can't complete that transaction', so I have to go to the bank, get cash, go back and pay them.

"Some blind people have been asked by staff when they couldn't complete the transaction to tell the staff member the pin number — That's a huge security concern and it's probably also breaching their contract with their bank if they were to tell them."

Blind Citizens Australia is calling for the Commonwealth bank to stop rolling out the machines until they are more accessible.

CBA says accessibility will 'evolve' over time

The Commonwealth Bank would not grant an interview regarding the Albert terminals.

But in a statement to AM, the bank's managing director of Commerce and Platforms Sam Itzcovitz said the bank was working with technology partners and the vision-impaired community to enhance accessibility for customers as Albert evolved.

Mr Itzcovitz said this included improving the bank's future design processes to better include accessibility standards.

But Emma Bennison said that would not help Australia's 350,000 blind or vision-impaired people currently faced with the issue, some of whom had been asked to give their pin numbers to retail staff so their transaction could proceed.

"There is an accessibility mode to turn on to make it apparently accessible, except you still have to listen to a 10-minute tutorial so it really isn't possible to make it accessible particularly in a noisy environment," Ms Bennison said.

"It's just completely unacceptable. You wouldn't expect a sighted person to listen to a 10-minute tutorial just to enter their pin number and you certainly wouldn't expect anyone to divulge their pin number to a retailer.

"Regularly people have told us that they had no other choice but to divulge their pin because they can't hear the tutorial, the staff member doesn't know how to turn the accessibility on, or they don't have time to stand around for 10 minutes and why should they.

"There are huge issues with that because it voids their credit card contract. It's a major issue."