Judge says Treasury Department is violating the law by keeping all money the same size and feel
A federal judge has ruled that the U.S. Treasury Department is violating the law by failing to design and issue currency that is readily distinguishable to blind and visually impaired people.
Judge James Robertson, in a ruling on a suit by the American Council of the Blind, ordered the Treasury to devise a method to tell bills apart.
The judge wrote that the current configuration of paper money violates the Rehabilitation Act's guarantee of "meaningful access."
"It can no longer be successfully argued that a blind person has 'meaningful access' to currency if she cannot accurately identify paper money without assistance," Robertson wrote in his ruling.
He further ruled that finding a solution to the problem would not be an "undue burden" on the government and ordered the Treasury Department to begin working on a solution within 30 days.
The American Council for the Blind has submitted several alternatives, including embossing, holes punched in the paper or using different-sized bills for different denominations.
The Treasury Department had no comment on the ruling.
Read on, and then submit your ideas.
3 comments:
The US ought to do the same thing as other countries like Canada and Australia (and others); their coins and bills have different sizes and different feel.
Well I thought the blind had other methods like folding different bills different ways to be able to tell the difference. I'm betting this will go over much like the Susan B. Anthony dollar. Not so hot in practice and won't fulfill the intentions.
I laways thought the foriegn currency was pretty but not particulally useful. Unless they do like in England and put the amount of silver the bill is actually worth into it.
I thought about this a lot last night (too much in fact) and I don’t know what they can do. I don’t think punching holes in bills will work, too easy for holes to get ripped and hung up when going through vending machines. Also, what’s to keep idiots from punching holes in bills themselves just to be evil?
I don’t see how different sized bills will work either. Again, vending machines. Think of all the places you slip a dollar bill into a little slot (laundry mat, post office, snack and pop vending machines etc). They would have to re-do every machine in the country to accommodate different sized bills.
It’s going to have to be something a blind person could feel. I was thinking about some kind of Braille bumps. But after much wear and tear, it seems like these would be worn down.
I’m not exactly looking for changes any time soon, like in my lifetime!
How about scented money? I want dollar bills to smell like grape juice.
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