It would seem that I have something pertinent to blog about, at last. Mind you, I hope I get the details right – I have a nasty knack of misunderstanding things related to practical issues like Banks.

It started early on Sunday afternoon. My mother helps me deal with the administering of my accounts, and we suddenly couldn’t access my account because we hadn’t got a pin number to use with a new card reader security machine to use with online banking. I don’t have a PIN number because it would be a security issue for me. I use a chip and sign card, as there is no way in hell of me entering a number accurately into a card reader. We therefore couldn’t access my accounts to pay my PAs.

We rang the building society. It must be said that they have been very cooperative, within their own constraints. First we spoke to a dude who sounded like he was 16, then his line manager. She, however, needed to speak directly to me, but couldn’t understand me on the phone. Using Colin would have defeated the object; anyone can use a lightwriter. Therefore there was no way of verifying I was me. She suggested the organisation’s Disability Communications Manager, with whom I have been communicating frantically for the past three days.

There has been much confusion. It seems I should never have been sent a card reader in the first place; at one stage me and dad were going to have to go to town to talk directly to the bank; at one stage I was offered an accessible card reader. At one stage the idea of giving my parents power of attorney was broached: while I appreciate my mum helping me keep my accounts and making sure my staff are paid, I refuse to relinquish full power over my affairs. Frankly, I preferred the original set up – it was safe enough, with no need for fiddly little devices I had no chance of using,

I explained fully my situation, and, with dad’s help the situation appears to have been sorted. I’m being sent a new chip and signature card, and there’s no need for that trip into town. I just wish people would talk to one another; had one department of the bank spoken to the other, they would probably have realised that there was a reason I didn’t use pin numbers, or at least didn’t have one. This is the type of problem disability legislation should be sorting out.

You know, the person I feel sorry for the most is dad. He must have spent hours trying to sort this out – time he needed to spend elsewhere. Moreover, my PAs will now get paid late; to them I apologise. These people in banks should think more!