Federal Judge Agrees the Treasury Needs to Adapt Currency for the Blind

[astrostu]

Time Magazine article today.

[BECOKA]

It's about time.

 

It also might be a good time to stop making the dollar bill.

[MunkyMan95]

Isn't that what the big fat purple 5 on the new $5 bill was for?I

[Conder101]

The Judge ordered the Treasury to meet with the Council of the Blind who brought the lawsuit. What is interesting is they have already met with the American Foundation for the Blind, and they DON"T want to see the currency changed.

[nwcs]

I wonder if they'll come up with some kind of braille or raised impression of the denomination?

[DC Dawg]

The Judge ordered the Treasury to meet with the Council of the Blind who brought the lawsuit. What is interesting is they have already met with the American Foundation for the Blind, and they DON"T want to see the currency changed.

That's because the American Federation for the Blind does not want to rock their political boat in Washington so that they can push other legislation. The American Council for the Blind felt that trying to curry favor with the pols in congress was not working, so they turned to the courts. Both organizations have the statistics that shows if the currency is being changed that it ranks from "it would be nice" to "heck yea" to make the currency more friendly to the blind.

 

Personally, I do not see the problem. It is done elsewhere in the world, why can't we do it here?

 

Scott

[Conder101]

No one says we CAN'T do it here, it's just that it will be expensive to implement. Ironicly it is our high literacy rate compared to other countries that caused.our problem. Most other countries, because of low literacy rates long ago had to develop different sizes and colors of notes so that the population could recognize the denominations. This also allowed the blind to recognize them. Then as time passed literacy may or may not have risen but the size shape and color of the notes had become traditional and there was no reason to change them so the modern society rose up around them accommodating them as they went.

 

In the US though, with a high literacy rate, it became expected that the people would identify the notes by reading the denominations on them and there was no reason to create different sizes or bold colors. (The colors seen on 19th century notes were actually there for anti-counterfeiting reasons. Photography was only in black and white and printing plates could not be made from photolithography because the different colored areas couldn't be separated. Once color photography was developed this was no longer a deterrent and they stopped adding color except for the red and blue fibers in the paper.) But as our society grew it adapted itself to notes of a single size note. To change registers, cash boxes, counting equipment, bill identification machines, and even the printing presses and other machinery need to produce the currency from scratch instead of over a LONG period as was done elsewhere will be difficult and quite expensive. It also can't be done quickly. Procuring the new printing equipment and installing it will take awhile, and creation of the new engravings and printing plates will probably take one to two years. All the new equipment and supplies for money handling across the nation will have to be produced as well. To cram this change in as fast as possible is going to cost painfully. If it was spread out over a decade it would be much easier on everyone.

[silvermonger-migration]

The Judge ordered the Treasury to meet with the Council of the Blind who brought the lawsuit. What is interesting is they have already met with the American Foundation for the Blind, and they DON"T want to see the currency changed.

 

15 years ago my wife left the ACB (American Council of the Blind) organization to join the NFB (National Federation of the Blind) for just such reasons as this. The philosophy of the NFB is MUCH more self reliance oriented. While the NFB is quick to bring suit against those who totally ignore ADA guidelines, they constantly stress finding creative ways to do it yourself no matter the challenge. Blind children learn to deal with money at the same age and in the same manner as sighted kids. Anyone of us can reach in their pocket and tell a dime from a penny from a nickel and so on. So can blind folks of course. The coins are different sizes. Folding money is so easy, you give the clerk a 10$ bill for a $4 item and when you are handed the change ask which is the 5 and which is the 1 and quickly give each an identifying fold. At your choice, a 5 may be a corner fold, a 10 2 corners q 20 fold in thirds, whatever you can easily recall with practice. Thus you have folding money in "different sizes" to aid id.

This money deal makes my wife see red. She considers "special" money to be so trivial compared to the very real and often dramatic challenges blind folks have to deal with.

She finds it embarassing to be seen as so helpless that she cant count her own money.

Believe me, no one counts assets more carefully than my wife!

Totally blind since childhood she has EARNED a PhD and is now a university professor.

[Connecticoin]

The Judge ordered the Treasury to meet with the Council of the Blind who brought the lawsuit. What is interesting is they have already met with the American Foundation for the Blind, and they DON"T want to see the currency changed.

That's because the American Federation for the Blind does not want to rock their political boat in Washington so that they can push other legislation. The American Council for the Blind felt that trying to curry favor with the pols in congress was not working, so they turned to the courts. Both organizations have the statistics that shows if the currency is being changed that it ranks from "it would be nice" to "heck yea" to make the currency more friendly to the blind.

 

Personally, I do not see the problem. It is done elsewhere in the world, why can't we do it here?

 

Scott

 

I agree. Use the savings from elminating the wasteful $1 bill to cover the cost. Besides, it would probably pay for itself anyway, as I would think the added features for the blind (i.e. raised dots or whatever) would be difficult to counterfeit.