[blindlaw] Bush administration fights Blind's access to currency

Wed Dec 13 08:52:08 CST 2006

Folding bills, as I did it for a while, makes the wallet bulkier and thus 
looks like you have more money than you did.  One misguided idiot attempted 
to take my wallet on these grounds, saying something like, "Wow, bet you 
gotta whole roll in there!"  For those who care, the pins came out of his 
wrist and his collar bone healed quite nicely after six weeks in a cast. 
Credit cards--with my credit, necessitated by my living on SSI or even less 
for several years since my job crashed, is in the toilet; late payments or 
choices made between survival of myself and my circle versus paying loan 
sharks...  Blind people shouldn't have to take out a loan to buy a 
hamburger.  Seems to me that if vending machine operators would just USE the 
Braille markings to tell what bills they've got, they could install cheaper 
scanners and actually save money.  I've put a Brailled bill through a 
vending machine before; it works.  It's all such stupid bull.
Guess I need coffee.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Stephanie Ortoleva" <womankind at earthlink.net>
To: "NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List" <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2006 7:49 PM
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] Bush administration fights Blind's access to 
currency

> Not true.  Unemployed folks who are dependent on SSI or such programs do
> not generally get credit cards and Ray makes rather interesting points
> about use of these cards at point of purchase locations.
>
> At 09:51 PM 12/12/2006, you wrote:
>
>>Just use a credit card and pay it off every month.  Employed or 
>>unemployed,
>>I'm quite certain that credit card companies will give you all of the 
>>credit
>>you can handle!
>>Steve
>>
>>----- Original Message -----
>>From: "Ray Wayne" <RWayne1 at nyc.rr.com>
>>To: "NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List" <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
>>Sent: Wednesday, December 13, 2006 12:18 AM
>>Subject: Re: [blindlaw] Bush administration fights Blind's access to
>>currency
>>
>>
>> > If those are the grounds of their appeal, they are off base.  While 
>> > they
>> > can
>> > be useful for blind people in retail who handle a lot of cash, I,
>> > personally, would not spend money on a money identifier when my current
>> > system of folding different bills differently works for me.
>> > Even more strikingly, most debit card machines I have seen are not user
>> > friendly to the blind.  Because the numbers on the keypad cannot be
>> > distinguished by touch, a blind person would have to give his/her PIN 
>> > to
>> > another person, possibly a total stranger.  I, for one, will never do
>> > that.
>> > Finally, let's not forget that credit cards generally charge interest, 
>> > and
>> > unemployed blind people may be unable to obtain them.
>> > If the Bush administration wants to fight this thing, they should, at
>> > least,
>> > use the strongest arguments.  It will be interesting if Judge Tatel is 
>> > on
>> > the panel.  No doubt his colleagues will consult him.
>> > Ray
>> > ----- Original Message -----
>> > From: "dlb723" <dlb723 at comcast.net>
>> > To: <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
>> > Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2006 5:55 PM
>> > Subject: [blindlaw] Bush administration fights Blind's access to 
>> > currency
>> >
>> >
>> > U.S. government appeals ruling on changes to currency for the blind
>> > WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Bush administration on Tuesday asked the U.S.
>> > Circuit Court
>> > of Appeals for the District of Columbia to overturn a lower court 
>> > ruling
>> > requiring that the federal government redesign the nation's paper money 
>> > to
>> > aid
>> > the blind in differentiating between denominations of bills.
>> > U.S. District Court Judge James Robertson ruled last month that the 
>> > U.S.
>> > Treasury Department is violating the law by keeping all paper money the
>> > same
>> > size
>> > and feel, preventing blind people from distinguishing the amount.
>> > Robertson, in a ruling on a suit by the American Council of the Blind,
>> > ordered the feds to come up with a way to tell bills apart.
>> > In its appeal, the Bush administration disagreed with Robertson's 
>> > ruling
>> > that the blind were denied "meaningful access" to money by the 
>> > same-sized
>> > bills
>> > because portable currency readers exist to help distinguish the bills. 
>> > The
>> > government also said blind people can use credit and debit cards 
>> > instead
>> > of
>> > cash.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> > ----
>> >
>> >
>> >> _______________________________________________
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>> >> blindlaw at nfbnet.org
>> >> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindlaw
>> >>
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
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>> >
>> >
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>>
>>
>>
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