Banks face action over dyslexia
Thursday, May 3rd, 2007
Banks face action over dyslexia
“A man with severe dyslexia has launched a legal challenge against two High Street banks about the way they communicate with disabled customers.”
This case poses a fascinating question: At what point do those of us with dysexia have to take personal responsibility for our mistakes, whether caused by dysexia or not? I’m not saying that these banks provided the right kind of support for the plaintif, but if they did and he agreed that they did, and he still overdrew his account, would he be responsible?
Personally, I find writing checks and dealing with various accounts quite difficult but I use a credit card as much as possible, keep track of things in a spreadsheet, and do as many of my transactions electronically as I can. Still, yesterday I almost ordered 175 boxes of paper instead of 10 and it was only when I noticed that the shipping charge was huge that I realized I’d made the mistake. Had I gone through with the transaction and ordered the paper I could hardly fault the vendor, could I?
Those of you who are interseted in various ways technology might be used to end-run many of these problems may want to read an article I wrote five years ago on this: Digital Independence.
Richard, I read this article this morning in the NY Times online. Personally I question the theme of the legal challenge. I’m not a lawyer so I can’t suggest whether there’s legal merit, but I wonder where the line needs to be drawn on personal responsibility versus corporate. I believe it’s our responsibility to find the means to be certain we don’t run afoul of loans and basic banking transactions.
I don’t know if it’s completely analogous but, I sometimes jokingly refer to myself as a “mechanical dyslexic.” There’s no DSM-4 category of such a condition and I’m sure some of my relative ineptitude is a lack of experience, practice and upbringing (not to mention learned helplessness
. However, and here’s my point: I don’t expect my car mechanic to go to extraordinary lengths to explain what the problem is or how to fix it. In those situations even tho’ I sometimes feel disabled, or at least highly confused, I’ve understood it’s my responsibility to keep asking questions until I reach the point of informed consent/comfort (or until he kicks me out of the shop)!