Judge Orders Cash Changed To Aid Blind
Rules Government Discriminates By Printing Money That Feels The Same
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U.S. District Judge James Robertson ordered the Treasury Department to come up with ways for the blind to tell bills apart. He said he wouldn't tell officials how to fix the problem, but he ordered them to begin working on it.
The American Council of the Blind has proposed several options, including printing bills of differing sizes, adding embossed dots or foil to the paper or using raised ink.
"Of the more than 180 countries that issue paper currency, only the United States prints bills that are identical in size and color in all their denominations," Robertson wrote. "More than 100 of the other issuers vary their bills in size according to denomination, and every other issuer includes at least some features that help the visually impaired."
Government attorneys argued that forcing the Treasury Department to change the size of the bills or add texture would make it harder to prevent counterfeiting. Robertson was not swayed.
"The fact that each of these features is currently used in other currencies suggests that, at least on the face of things, such accommodations are reasonable," he wrote.
He said the government was violating the Rehabilitation Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in government programs. The opinion came after a four-year legal fight.
Electronic devices are available to help blind people differentiate between bills, but many complain that they are slow, expensive and unreliable. Visually impaired shoppers frequently rely on store clerks to help them.
"It's just frankly unfair that blind people should have to rely on the good faith of people they have never met in knowing whether they've been given the correct change," said Jeffrey A. Lovitky, attorney for the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
The Treasury Department had no comment on the ruling Tuesday. The government has 10 days to decide whether to appeal.
In court documents, government attorneys said changing the way money feels would be expensive. Cost estimates ranged from $75 million in equipment upgrades and $9 million annual expenses for punching holes in bills to $178 million in one-time charges and $50 million annual expenses for printing bills of varying sizes.
The Treasury Department spent $4.2 billion on printing over the past decade, Robertson said. Adding a raised number to the bills would have increased costs less than 5 percent over that period, he said.
"If additional savings could be gained by incorporating the new feature into a larger redesign, such as those that took place in 1996 or 2004, the total burden of adding such a feature would be even smaller," Robertson wrote.
By Matt Apuzzo ©MMVI The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.



What about all the recent news stories about all the work that went into making the "new" paper currency, and the story about how much money it would save the government by going to coins..why didn't the blind activists step in then? That would be the time to start fixing the problem.
People need to relax and enjoy more...
Americans need to go back to cash. the Government can track us much easier if we use electronic debit/credit cards, auto payments and the like. This is a free country and I should not have to worry that the Government is watching over my shoulder to see what my purchasing habits are.
If you read the article carefully, you will see Judge Robertson is not 'trying to MAKE laws'. He is doing HIS job of ENFORCING laws set forth by the Rehabilitation Act. There is a large difference in MAKING and ENFORCING laws.
Wouldn't it make more sense to provide an electronic paper money reader for the vision impaired?
To DavidWayne, no, I didn't happen to read the conspiracy-theory article on the government using currency to track people the way scientists use tags to track wild animals; I read the one regarding the discriminatory nature of our present currency system. Could you provide us with a link to whatever it was that you read?
The judge is reaching...the law does NOT state or even infer " all US currency must..." he is just trying to make a name for himself or impose his will on others through INTERPRETATION of the law. Many times, congress will make laws gray on purpose so there is room for interpretation, but not here. Like I said, something really should be done, but let's be smart and efficient about it. My main gripe is the govs continuing lack of foresight...they just spent jillions redesigning our money, why in hell didn't they take care of it then? Why wasn't there one mention of the blinds needs in any story about the "new" money the government was coming out with. THAT SHOULD OF BEEN THE MAIN STORY THEN, again, government being reactive, not proactive, and the media asking the wrong questions....relax, enjoy...
www
identitytheft911
org
/articles/article.ext?sp=744
Also, what makes you think the government can't track you through your cash? If the technology exists, it can be applied to more than one type of object.
A side note: I don't buy things I'm ashamed of, so I don't care if some government-sponsored marketing group is tracking my purchases or not. There are far more important issues demanding my concern.
I am not ashamed of any thing I buy. I have a right to privacy and the governement or any one else does not need to 'track' me by watching my purchase transactions.
That is all I am trying to say.
This is the right thing to do. Whether it is changing the size of the bills or adding some type of feature that allows the blind to distinguish between the denominations is just common sense.
And please don't whine about cost to make the change. We have wasted 400+ billion dollars and counting in Iraq. Spending money on this would actually help people.
1) put a unique scent on each bill, and let blind people smell their money, and train their seeing eye dogs to bite anyone who tries to pass off a bogus scent.
2) teach blind people to use only debit cards in their purchases, and require debit card scanners to have brail on their keypads (cash on a blind person is easy pickings for a mugger anyway)
3) Spend the $5 billion use save from NOT reprinting currency on local escort services for the blind
4) another sensory alternative- put an encoding on bills (much like counterfeit preventive measures but cheaper) that a blind person can scan with a hand-held electronic scanner, which gives off a different sound for each denomination. This option would screw up bill sizes or the current bill scanning machines in place around the country (soda anybody?) that would all have to be changed out otherwise.
Here's some ideas.
1) put a unique scent on each bill, and let blind people smell their money, and train their seeing eye dogs to bite anyone who tries to pass off a bogus scent.
2) teach blind people to use only debit cards in their purchases, and require debit card scanners to have brail on their keypads (cash on a blind person is easy pickings for a mugger anyway)
3) Spend the $5 billion you save from NOT reprinting currency on local escort services for the blind
4) another sensory alternative- put an encoding on bills (much like counterfeit preventive measures but cheaper) that a blind person can scan with a hand-held electronic scanner, which gives off a different sound for each denomination. This option would not screw up bill sizes or the current bill scanning machines in place around the country (soda anybody?) that would all have to be changed out otherwise.
(loss of our rights - treated like 3rd world population)
OUR GREAT COURT HARD AT WORK TO WORK US(A)OVER...
RIAA Legal Ruling Could Shut Down The Internet
U.S. government supports legal case that would criminalize making any files available on the world wide web
http://www.infowars.com/articles/ps/internet_riaa_ruling_could_shut_down_net.htm
THE MEDIA IS PLUNGING
BECAUSE THE PEOPLE KNOW THEY ARE BEING MANIPULATED
AND THEY ARE TIRED OF IT, AND ARE NOT GOING TO SUPPORT IT
The first thing you do is when you attack a country
is you cut the cut off the communication, cut off electric power, and cut off the fuel..
then you control (manipulate) information that is decimated
It's very difficult to be blind - and not everyone out there in this world today can be trusted - so relying on a cashier to be honest and give the correct change is a big trust and I'm sure there are some out there that can not be trusted. The Disability Act states that there should be no discrimination for those less fortunate to have 100% of their faculties. Putting the correct raised dots on a bill shouldn't be that difficult - it's just that they don't want to spend the money. The government is cheap and is more willing to pour money into other countries for their "special causes" than to take care of their own Americans. Just look at all the vets coming back from Irag and how they are being treated.
Discrimination of all kinds needs to be wiped out and everyone treated fairly. We have become a very rude and insensitive country and if we are all going to get along and live in peace, we need to start at home and within ourselves - let's show some compassion for the disabled and quit ostracizing them
Hold the presses on the new president dollar coins, they would have to be bigger, we all can tell a nickel from a dime or quarter, drop the penny altogether and round prices up or down. All we have to do now is walk around with change dispensers on our belts next to our cell phones, women would have a good new reason for the large pocketbooks they all carry.
Plastic for expensive items.
problem fixed!!
Oh and the coins? They are more confusing than the paper money he says.
Don't they already have brail on the drive up ATM machines?
Those machine templates are made universally. They don't know if the template will wind up at a walk up ATM or a drive up. You should be so lucky that you have your sight and that you CAN drive up to an ATM. My brother in law was born blind so he'll never "get" your joke.
This sign appears on the Post Office Door at Nellis AFB, Nev.
No Dogs Allowed, Except Seeing eye Dogs
Now I know the man can not see to read...can the dog read it?
This freaking federal gammint discriminates against me.
I want a federal judge to order that gammint should build a be-e-eutiful mansion for me.
--Michael Vilkin
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by mikevilkin
November 30, 2006 11:13 AM PST
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See all 32 CommentsCorrection.
If we round up some stupid federal judges and put them to make bricks, and then round up some other stupid federal judges and train them to lay bricks, in a few weeks I'd have a be-e-eutiful mansion of my dreams.
--Michael Vilkin