[nfbwatlk] Fw: National Federation of the Blind Comments onFederalCourt Ruling on U.S. Currency

[Mike Freeman]

And sighted persons don't get short-changed? Frankly, I've only been ripped 
off three times in fifty years. What sort of a message does it send when we 
justify things by showing our fear of the public? As Judy Jones said on 
another list, a bit of vigilance and moxy go a long way toward solving the 
currency problem.

And I'm more afraid that when the ruling loses on appeal (as it most 
assuredly will), the appeal decision will go further than this suit and rule 
that other Section 504 accommodations are unreasonable. It's happened 
before: a suit is filed (usually by ACB) and the adverse decision comes down 
with broader consequences than were contemplated in the original suit.

Mike

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sceach Blackwolf" <surrya at gmail.com>
To: "Jacob" <lawnmower84 at hotmail.com>; "NFB of Washington Talk Mailing List" 
<nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, November 29, 2006 2:43 PM
Subject: Re: [nfbwatlk] Fw: National Federation of the Blind Comments 
onFederalCourt Ruling on U.S. Currency


Well, I have to say I disagree. At first I too felt that it was pretty
ridiculous (fold your money!) and it is certainly not the biggest issue on
our plate by any stretch of the imagination. Yet anything that makes it
harder to rip  us off can't be all bad, and feel-good measures can help
grease the wheels of polite society, provided those feel-good measures
aren't mistaken for real changes.

CT


On 11/29/06, Jacob <lawnmower84 at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> this is being talked about on Kiro 710 am radio at this time. Dory
> Momceance
> is talking about the  issue with money.
> from
> Jacob Struiskam
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Mike Freeman" <k7uij at panix.com>
> To: "NFB of Washington Talk" <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, November 29, 2006 12:47 PM
> Subject: [nfbwatlk] Fw: National Federation of the Blind Comments on
> FederalCourt Ruling on U.S. Currency
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Pare, John" <JPare at NFB.ORG>
> To: <k7uij at panix.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, November 29, 2006 10:41 AM
> Subject: National Federation of the Blind Comments on Federal Court Ruling
> on U.S. Currency
>
>
>
>
> National Federation of the Blind Comments
>
>
> on Federal Court Ruling on U.S. Currency
>
>
>
>
> Views Effort as Dangerously Misguided
>
>
>
> Baltimore, Maryland (November 29, 2006): The National Federation of the
> Blind, the largest organization of blind persons in America and known as
> the
> voice of the nation's blind, criticized as dangerously misguided a federal
> court ruling saying that the design of U.S. currency discriminates against
> the blind.
>
>
>
> Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said:
> "The blind need jobs and real opportunities to earn money, not feel-good
> gimmicks that misinform the public about our capabilities.  Blind people
> transact business with paper money every day.  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."
>
>
>
> Maurer went on to enumerate the real needs for access to information by
> the
> blind and made a distinction between those needs and the issue of
> identifying currency.  "Access to information of all kinds, such as that
> contained on Internet Web sites and in the press, is certainly critical to
> the ability of the blind to become productive members of society.  Blind
> students need educational materials in Braille and other alternative
> formats
> so that they can prepare for employment and ultimately earn an income for
> themselves and their families.  Given the urgent need for access to the
> kind
> of information that is required for success in America's information
> economy, the matter of identifying the denominations of paper bills is of
> relatively little concern."
>
>
>
> Blind people traditionally identify paper currency by folding bills of
> different denominations in different ways.  "In reality, blind people do
> not
> routinely find that we have been short-changed," Maurer
> commented.  Machines
> are readily available to identify paper money for blind people who run
> businesses or handle large amounts of cash.  "Essentially, the United
> States
> Treasury has been ordered by the courts to come up with a solution for a
> nonexistent problem," Maurer said.
>
>
>
> The National Federation of the Blind believes that with training and
> opportunity, blind people can compete in the world with only minor
> modifications.  The American Council of the Blind, which brought the
> lawsuit
> against the United States Treasury, promotes the view that the blind are
> unable to compete unless the world is modified dramatically and
> specifically
> for blind people, and that the blind must be made objects of care and pity
> rather than equal participants in society.
>
>
>
> John G. Paré Jr.
> Director of Public Relations
> NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
> 1800 Johnson Street
> Baltimore, Maryland  21230
> Telephone:  (410) 659-9314, ext. 2371
> Cell phone:  (410) 913-3912
> Fax:  (410) 685-5653
> Email:  jpare at nfb.org
>
>
>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
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