[nfb-talk] A different perspective on money

[Kori King]

These are great comments! And I, too, have slightly amended an initial 
thought of mine when I stated that I could see where people might feel that 
by altering the currency, it sends a message to the public that "those poor 
blind people now have a way to tell their money." The requesting of this 
change in currency might indeed put forth this impression for some, but like 
others have expressed, to paraphrase, it can indeed add confidence to the 
issue of dealing with money, although yes, it's true that sighted people too 
can be cheated. And I agree with the point made by some on the list that 
employment opportunities could open up. I also, however, find it interesting 
the possibility of people trying to counterfeit the money anyway and still 
end up possibly causing someone to think it's a particular bill denomination 
when it's another. So, I feel that whatever way this change comes about, if 
at all, we can convey to people that this is not something we can't live 
without, but it's an additional and perhaps better adaptation of what we've 
already been able to manage. Take care.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "T. Joseph Carter" <tjcarter at bluecherry.net>
To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, December 08, 2006 7:43 PM
Subject: [nfb-talk] A different perspective on money


> I've been sitting on the fence about this for about a week, but I think I
> just fell off of it today based on a perspective I hadn't considered.
> First, for anyone who hasn't been keeping score thus far (people who know
> the score can skip the next three paragraphs):
>
> We don't actually NEED to be able to identify individual notes to use
> them.  We have access to people and technology for this purpose.  Sure,
> there's some inherent dependency in this, but it really is a minor thing,
> and the risks are pretty low overall.
>
> The question remains, however, whether or not an adaptation should be
> made.  Many Federationists do not believe so either because they are
> comfortable with their current techniques.  Others fear dangers both real
> and imagined in trying to fix what doesn't seem all that broken.
>
> Still others, most of whom could not be dismissed as ACB people causing
> trouble on our lists (again), believe that our currency is broken, and
> that there are numerous examples of how to fix it.  Fixing it is the right
> thing to do, even if there are other things we'd call priorities.  Perhaps
> the ACB managed to finally do some good.  (Unless those dangers mentioned
> above are more real than imagined, of course..)
>
>
> I stumbled onto a very good comparison to a group of people with other
> disabilities: People who use wheelchairs.  Those who use manual chairs and
> have the upper-body strength to do it can learn techniques for dealing
> with steps and curbs safely.  Nearly all of the rest could find ways to
> deal with curbs.  Installing a curb cut is expensive.  Making them a
> universal fixture is incredibly expensive, and highly visible as being
> done specifically for them, even though there are more moms with baby
> strollers using them than people in wheelchairs.
>
> Does their existence cause the general public to think less of people in
> wheelchairs?  Katie's experience is that people can at least imagine her
> working in an office setting where she'd be expected to be mostly seated
> anyway, whereas they couldn't imagine how I could do the same work.  How
> is she going to get up the curb so she can get to work?  The general
> public would answer, "Easy, she'd use the curb cuts!"  Well obviously,
> since they are universal and easy to use, she would.  The fact that she
> could do it without a curb cut is irrelevant because she doesn't have to.
>
> The cost of making them nearly universal was high, but in most cases it
> was not paid solely for the sake of wheelchair users.  Most of them were
> installed when work was being done on those intersections.  If they're
> going to be messing with the intersection and sidewalks, they might as
> well add curb cuts while they're there to reduce the cost of doing it.
>
> Just because Katie does not absolutely require curb cuts doesn't mean she
> shouldn't have them.  And just because we do not absolutely require a
> currency that we can identify without vision doesn't mean we shouldn't
> have it.  The same cost-cutting mechanism can be employed (as discussed
> elsewhere), and should be.  The transition will be slow and gradual, and
> while it's going on we're all just going to have to use the skills we
> already have to the best of our ability.
>
> It should happen, though.
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