[Iabs-talk] A washingtonpost.com article from: aznor99 at aol.com

[Rob Hobson]

Thank you
Rob Hobson
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <AZNOR99 at aol.com>
To: <iabs-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, January 19, 2007 4:25 PM
Subject: Re: [Iabs-talk] A washingtonpost.com article from: aznor99 at aol.com


> If you follow the link in my previous email, it's a Washington  Post 
> article
> about the accessible money issue.  I've gone ahead and  pasted the text of 
> the
> article below.
>
>
>
> Show Us The Money
> America's Paper Currency Shortchanges the Blind
> By Cyrus Habib
> Thursday, January 18, 2007; Page A23
>
> Blind Americans may soon find themselves able to use money just like 
> anyone
> else. That is unless the Treasury Department is successful this month in 
> its
> appeal of a recent federal court order that paper currency be made
> recognizable  to the blind, who are currently unable to distinguish one 
> denomination from
> another.
> I, for example, rely on the generosity of cab drivers, baristas and store
> clerks each time I make a purchase with cash. That I have rarely been 
> ripped off
> is a testament to their honesty or my charm, but I cannot help but protest
> the  perpetual necessity for either. After all, there are 180 countries in
> which this  is not the case, because their currency is designed to be
> distinguishable by  all.
>
>
>
>
>
> U.S. District Judge James Robertson asked the Treasury Department to
> determine the best means of making money distinguishable by the blind, 
> citing  the
> myriad solutions proposed by the organization that filed the lawsuit, the
> American Council of the Blind. These included using raised ink, modifying 
> the  size
> of certain bills and producing a tactile mark to indicate a bill's
> denomination. The Treasury Department has objected to all such solutions, 
> claiming
> that the $75 million price tag is simply too high.
> Of course, Treasury's lawyers fail to mention that the cost would have 
> been
> far lower had the department acted voluntarily when the $20 bill was
> redesigned  in 1998 and the $10 bill was modified last year. Instead, it 
> has decided to
> spend our tax money fighting the blind in court, appealing Judge 
> Robertson's
> decision even before a final judgment on the nature of a solution could be
> reached.
> Blind people in the United States suffer from a staggering 70 percent
> unemployment rate, and a disproportionately high percentage of those who 
> are
> employed occupy jobs in the low end of the service sector. There is no 
> question
> that the catastrophic poverty of America's blind requires a solution. Why 
> not
> begin by giving us access to money at the most atomic level? How can blind
> Americans become truly independent, achieving the success we deserve and 
> leaving
> behind the stigma of federal and state aid, without being able to
> differentiate  between a dollar bill and a fifty?
> The Treasury Department suggests using debit and credit cards, 
> disregarding
> the fact that the lives of many blind Americans hinge upon financial 
> exchanges
> for which plastic is often useless, such as catching a crosstown bus,
> purchasing  a cup of coffee or getting change for laundry.
> These basic day-to-day experiences may not constitute reality for Treasury
> Secretary Henry Paulson and his team, but they certainly do for millions 
> of
> blind and low-vision Americans.
> Some have called the lawsuit frivolous, arguing that blind people have
> managed to survive for years by relying on others for help. Such reasoning 
> does
> more than ignore the overwhelming poverty and hardship that plague the 
> blind
> community; it dishonors the sacrifices millions of disabled Americans made 
> to
> help bring about passage of the landmark Americans With Disabilities Act. 
> Money
> is essential to a person's participation in society. Its accessibility to
> blind  people should be considered as important as that of wheelchair 
> ramps or
> Braille  in elevators.
> When it comes to accommodating disabilities such as blindness, let us
> continue to lead the world in practice as well as in principle. More 
> important
> still, let us tell the world that we, too, believe that blindness should 
> not be
> an obstacle to financial independence. In doing so, let us also take a
> significant step toward ameliorating the living conditions of blind 
> Americans,  now
> and for years to come.
> The Treasury Department should obey Judge Robertson's order and show us 
> the
> money.
> The writer, a Rhodes Scholar and JD candidate at Yale Law School, is
> preparing an amicus brief on this case with Dean Harold Hongju Koh.
>
>
>
>
>


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


> _______________________________________________
> Iabs-talk mailing list
> Iabs-talk at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/iabs-talk
>