[nfb-talk] Fw: [acb-l] Associated Press Reports ACB'sVictoryRequiring Accessable Currency

Tue Nov 28 22:46:42 CST 2006

Braille on dollar bills would make bills too bulky, and awkward for banks to 
store, and transport.

Solely relying on coins would be expensive, and banks would oppose it for 
the same reason mention above.

The article states

"Of the more than 180 countries that issue paper currency, only the United
States prints bills that are identical in size and color in all their
denominations,"
Robertson wrote."

 Is this a fact? Is the United States oh so backward? Besides, if money is 
to be made accessible to the blind, do we want it to be a visual feature, or 
will it be a clear tactile distinction.

What can we do to make money accessible to the blind? More jobs, and less 
fuss about the rehabilitation act sounds like sound policy to me.

In adition to my comments, I am including what seems to be the full, 
unedited, uncut version of the article, witch I received on another list, 
not an ACB list.

It might be valuable to read the edited out part first, I think, so here it 
is:

The other side, left out of the ACB/generated e-mail

Others have developed ways to cope with the similarly shaped bills.
Melanie Brunson, a member of the American Council of the Blind, told the
court that
she folds her bills into different shapes: $1 bills stay straight, $5
bills are folded in half left to right, $10 bills in half top to bottom
and $20 in
quarters.

The Treasury Department had no comment on the ruling Tuesday. The
government has 10 days to decide whether to appeal.

U.S. bills have not always been the same size. In 1929, the government
standardized the size and shrank all bills by about 30 percent to lower
manufacturing
costs and help distinguish between genuine and counterfeit notes.

Since then, the Treasury Department has worked to stay ahead of
counterfeiters. Security threads and microprinting were introduced in
1990. The portraits
were enlarged in 1996, and an infrared feature was added to encourage the
development of electronic readers for the blind.

The latest redesign is under way. New $10 bills, featuring splashes of
orange, yellow and red, hit the market this year, following similar
changes to the
$20 bill in 2003 and the $50 bill in 2004. The $5 facelift is due in 2008.

In court documents, government attorneys said changing the way money feels
would be expensive. Cost estimates ranged from $75 million in equipment
upgrades
and $9 million annual expenses for punching holes in bills to $178 million
in one-time charges and $50 million annual expenses for printing bills of
varying
sizes.

Any change to the dollar's design could ripple into the vending machine
industry, which participated in discussions regarding previous redesigns.
The American
Council of the Blind is not seeking changes to the $1 bill, according to
court documents.

The Treasury Department spent $4.2 billion on printing over the past
decade, Robertson said. Adding a raised number to the bills would have
increased costs
less than 5 percent over that period, he said.

"If additional savings could be gained by incorporating the new feature
into a larger redesign, such as those that took place in 1996 or 2004, the
total
burden of adding such a feature would be even smaller," Robertson wrote.

Now, the full article
Judge: make bills recognizable to blind
MATT APUZZO
Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The government discriminates against blind people by printing
money that all looks and feels the same, a federal judge said Tuesday in a
ruling
that could change the face of American currency.

U.S. District Judge James Robertson ordered the Treasury Department to
come up with ways for the blind to tell bills apart. He said he wouldn't
tell officials
how to fix the problem, but he ordered them to begin working on it.

The American Council of the Blind has proposed several options, including
printing bills of differing sizes, adding embossed dots or foil to the
paper or
using raised ink.

"Of the more than 180 countries that issue paper currency, only the United
States prints bills that are identical in size and color in all their
denominations,"
Robertson wrote. "More than 100 of the other issuers vary their bills in
size according to denomination, and every other issuer includes at least
some
features that help the visually impaired."

Government attorneys argued that forcing the Treasury Department to change
the size of the bills or add texture would make it harder to prevent
counterfeiting.
Robertson was not swayed.

"The fact that each of these features is currently used in other
currencies suggests that, at least on the face of things, such
accommodations are reasonable,"
he wrote.

He said the government was violating the Rehabilitation Act, which
prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in government
programs. The opinion
came after a four-year legal fight.

Electronic devices are available to help blind people differentiate
between bills, but many complain that they are slow, expensive and
unreliable. Visually
impaired shoppers frequently rely on store clerks to help them.

"It's just frankly unfair that blind people should have to rely on the
good faith of people they have never met in knowing whether they've been
given the
correct change," said Jeffrey A. Lovitky, attorney for the plaintiffs in
the lawsuit.