U.S. Cash Not Blind-Friendly, Court Rules

Money Could Get Redesign To Help Blind Distinguish Values

(CBS/AP)  The U.S. discriminates against blind people by printing paper money that makes it impossible for them to distinguish the bills' value, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.

The ruling upholds a decision by a lower court in 2006. It could force the Treasury Department to redesign its money. Suggested changes have ranged from making bills different sizes to printing them with raised markings.

The U.S. acknowledges that the design hinders blind people but it argued they had adapted -some relied on store clerks for help, some used credit cards and others folded certain corners to help distinguish the bills.

But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled 2-1 that such adaptations were insufficient. The government might as well argue that, since handicapped people can crawl on all fours or ask for help from strangers, there's no need to make buildings wheelchair accessible, the court said.

"The dissenting judge says that it may take an Act of Congress to change the currency in the manner in which the majority suggests and that the appeals court should not have even taken the appeal until certain other issues were resolved," says CBS News chief legal analyst Andrew Cohen. "I am not confident that the full D.C. panel which would hear this case would affirm this ruling."

The court also ruled that the U.S. failed to explain why changing the money would be an undue burden. The Treasury Department has redesigned its currency several times in recent years and adding features to aid the blind would come at a relatively small cost, the court said.

Other countries have added such features, the court said, and the U.S. never explained what made its situation so unique.

[abigail531]

I am not trying to be rude or uncaring, but how do the blind people get to the store to buy anything? and how do they know what they are buying in the first place? And I have always wondered why there are braille markings on a drive-through-ATM, when blind people are not supposed to drive???Besides, you didn''t hear "Helen Keller" making a fuss about being blind and deaf. And just look how she rose about her physical problems! Furthmore I do not really believe the truly blind people are not making any demands about these things. I believe that somebody just wants to get their name in the paper. Also, if money is made in braille, what will happen if the store clerk cannot give change with braille markings on it? Will the store have to pay a fine? By the way, I am going blind from my diabetes.

[jaykay3141]

It''s not just the blind who are affected. Even with the new designs U.S. currency is among the easiest in the world to counterfeit(*), largely because all bills are the same size and have similar layouts. The functionaries and bureaucrats at the BEP(**) keep insisting our money has to be "uniquely American" but all it means is that anybody with decent printing skills can make passable copies. Somehow just about every other country on the planet manages to print bills that are more distinctive than(***) our pastel gas coupons. Not only that, all the people in those countries have somehow managed to adapt to different colors and sizes without civilization collapsing. Does that mean we''re not as smart or flexible?

Notes to prior posters:
* A "counter fitter" makes kitchen cabinets.
** The BEP prints currency, not the Mint.
*** Look up THEN and THAN in a dictionary.

[michellem99-2009]

May I bring yer attn to some thing that is a help. Look for the large numbers in one corner that did address this with some useable sight. Check yer cash and answer this post.

[michellem99-2009]

ye will need that help as a senior cizizen. The problems with dollar and up coins they don''t work. fyi.if they are colour blind it just means their world is a fully sighted but no colour, I am legally blind . I see colour.

[algoresarse]

humm if there is any conspiracy theorists out here..what was it about one currency..non paper all electronic...*X FILE soundtrack*

[algoresarse]

soon enough we would have welfare liberals saying that the dollar discriminates against the poor and refuses to stay in thier wallets

[olebd]

The dollar hasn''t been friendly to anybody lately.

[twomtns]

Posted by aggiekat2004 at 05:50 PM : May 20, 2008
Not to be rude, but that''''s 4/10ths of a percent of the US population.
So we''''re going to reprint all of our money to accommodate? I wonder how much that''''s going to cost?

well aggie
1 - its all relative as to cost per person
2 - you do it over time bank note by bank note
3 - if it''s such a poor idea why did the euro copy the Canadian model
OH by the way population European Union 320 million

[aggiekat2004]

Not to be rude, but that''s 4/10ths of a percent of the US population.

So we''re going to reprint all of our money to accommodate? I wonder how much that''s going to cost?

Wow, while we''re at it, let''s address the fact that people are also illiterate, and don''t forget those who don''t accept the fact that English is the official language. Hmmmmm...oh, and the fact that the pictures of our white, protestant forefathers might be offensive to people of color and immigrants. We might want to change that too.

I think the debit card option seems more viable...after all, there''s braille on the drive through ATMs...visually impaired folks can simply drive to the nearest ATM and only take out money in the same denomination!!

[twomtns]

perhaps the Treasury Department should look at the new Canadian $20.00 bill
the written numbers are almost one inch high this is very helpful to the elderly & sight impaired + the top right hand corner has brail for the blind

[thgdriver]

I am not blind but even I can tell the difference between coins. A penny does not have a reeded edge but the dime does. A quarter has a reeded edge but the Sacajawea dollar does not. The half has a reeded edge and feels bigger then a quarter. A quarter feels bigger then a dime. The new dollars have writing on the edge that you can feel. The Eisenhower dollar is reeded but larger then a half.

It''s just a matter of adding a 5 10 20 dollar coin we can all use and stop redesigning every thing for a few.

[michellem99-2009]

Who wrote that story CBS..What a slap in the face. It is very poor on yer part. Michelle Michael

[inventagod2]

I have a blind client who always tells me he gave me a hundred as payment, and expects his change immediately. However, he always hands me a fiver, instead of the required twenty....
Funny guy, and the joke ALMOST worked on me the first time...

[thgdriver]

MichelleM99

Sorry michellem99, is that not discriminatory to color blind people? Coins are the answer. Any counter fitter could raise some dots on a single that fell like a twenty and still fool the blind.

[thgdriver]

The court forgot to admit that we have coins that are easily distinguished by the blind by touch. Why not just add a five, ten, twenty dollar coin? We could all use them. Not just a change to our paper money that only the blind can use. Thats reverse discrimination.

[michellem99-2009]

I am a legally blind person from birth. I am 53. I was taught to fold cash to what they are. on the bill That is right it is very discrimitory. Raised markings wont work. I and a lot of blind persons with multi handicaps know this will shut us out. Canada has the answer a colour for each bill.

[impeach_w]

Our money is as discrimitory and as unconstitutional as our administration...