december 2006
Will the U.S. ever have...
Money for the Blind?
On November 28, 2006, Judge James Robertson of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia decided that current U.S. currency is discriminatory against blind people because all bills, no matter denomination, feel the same. The judge ruled that the U.S. government must change the money in some way to make it decipherable by touch. Most countries differentiate their bills by making each denomination a different size. The U.S. could follow this program or create their own system, like embedding tactile bumps in the bills.
On December 12th, 2006, the Bush administration asked a federal court to overturn the lower-court ruling, citing many arguments as to why changing U.S. currency just isn't a good idea. Later, the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), generally a wonderful organization, threw in their support of the administration saying that they too think changing U.S. currency is a bad idea.
We disagree. Here we will go through each major argument of the Bush administration and NFB and explain why we think changing U.S. currency so that it is accessible for the blind is actually a good idea...
Changing the current design of U.S. currency would be too expensive.
The Bush administration has appealed Judge Robertson's decision mostly on the argument that changing U.S. currency would be too expensive. Would it really? It seems to us that U.S. currency is changing all the time. The old green bills with small, centered pictures are a thing of the past. And remember when bills didn't have holograms or identification strips running through them? Neither do we. The point is, U.S. bills change constantly in order to stay one step ahead of counterfeiters. So, next time the treasury updates the money, add one more feature to the list: Accessibility.
Making bills accessible to blind people may also make money easier to counterfeit.
How is it that changing the design of money is always hyped as a way to prevent counterfeiting, but this time they say it may encourage it? That doesn't make much sense. Plus, if creating an accessible bill also makes it more complicated, then that bill would be harder, not easier, to counterfeit.
Blind people can use bill-folding techniques to easily identify money.
Yes, blind people can, and most do, use bill-folding systems to keep track of their money. However, they must still rely on a sighted person to identify their money in the first place. If independence is a goal for most blind people, then being able to identify their money on their own would certainly help in this regard.
If they want to be independent, blind shoppers can use debit or credit cards or talking currency identifiers.
Understanding that independence is an issue for blind people, the Bush administration suggests that independently-minded blind shoppers can use debit or credit cards or talking currency identifiers. What they forget is that debit and credit cards can be hard to use independently when you have to rely on a touch-screen card scanner or simply trust your sales clerk that they charged your card correctly. Also, talking currency identifiers are expensive and not infallible. They go for about $300 (is the government willing to buy one for every blind person in the U.S.?) and if the dollar bill isn't new and crisp, the reader might not work.
Changing the currency doesn't address greater issues, like the 70% unemployment rate of blind adults.
Dr. Marc Maurer, President of NFB, says: "This ruling puts a roadblock in the way of solving the real problem, which is the seventy percent unemployment rate among working-age blind Americans that severely limits our access to cash. The ruling will do nothing to alleviate that situation; in fact, it seriously endangers the ability of the blind to get jobs and participate fully in society. It argues that the blind cannot handle currency or documents in the workplace and that virtually everything must be modified for the use of the blind. An employer who believes that every piece of printed material in the workplace must be specially designed so that the blind can read it will have a strong incentive not to hire a blind person."
First of all, we agree that the ruling to change U.S. currency doesn't address the larger issue of unemployed blind adults, but should it? Just because there are greater issues facing blind people, does that mean we should ignore lesser ones? Further, would changing currency really make it harder for blind adults to find employment, as Dr. Maurer suggests? We think not. No one is arguing that "virtually everything must be modified for the use of the blind" and any employer who interprets the ruling that way is obviously dealing with prior discrimination issues. In fact, altering money may make it easier for the blind to find employment as it would open up any jobs where the employee must regularly handle money and differentiate between the bills.
Changing U.S. currency for blind accessibility will stigmatize blind people.
Dr. Maurer also said: "The ruling of Judge James Robertson . . . also implied that the blind are not capable of looking out for our own best interests and that the whole world must be modified for our protection. If it is allowed to stand unchallenged, this ruling will do real harm to the blind by making our goal of full and equal participation in society virtually impossible to achieve."
This remark, though spoken by an otherwise intelligent man, really took us by surprise. How is changing U.S. currency so that it meets the standard of every other civilized country in the world going to set back the blind community?
Blind people are rarely, if ever, short-changed by sales clerks, anyway.
This is most likely true. People are rarely short-changed by sales clerks on purpose, blind or sighted. Occasionally it does happen unintentionally and it's nice to know when it does, so you can alert the sales clerk and rectify the problem. Not having to rely on sighted friends or sales clerks is just another small step toward independence.
And, when you think about it, any small step toward independence is a huge advance for the blind community. We support the change of U.S. currency to make it more accessible to the blind and we look forward to the fun new bills.
Supreme Court anyone?