# US money discriminates against the blind. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 28, 2006, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-money-discriminates-against-the-blind/382136 "2006-11-28T22:18:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-money-discriminates-against-the-blind/382136/41 "2006-11-29T19:45:49Z")
Even if there were no blind people, its a good idea for the average person in general- how may times have you accidentally given or received the wrong bill? Would happen a whole lot less if they were different sizes and colors- it would be hard to mistake a pink square ten with a yellow rectangular twenty. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-money-discriminates-against-the-blind/382136/42 "2006-11-29T19:48:04Z")
[QUOTE=StarvingButStrong] So far nobody has mentioned texture, which strikes me as the easiest and least disruptive change. [/QUOTE] My idea, too, though you went into more depth than I did. Texture won’t greatly affect the thickness, either. ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-money-discriminates-against-the-blind/382136/43 "2006-11-29T20:18:58Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] Even if there were no blind people, its a good idea for the average person in general- how may times have you accidentally given or received the wrong bill? Would happen a whole lot less if they were different sizes and colors- it would be hard to mistake a pink square ten with a yellow rectangular twenty. [/QUOTE] Unless all the bright, nasty colors in your wallet rendered you blind. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-money-discriminates-against-the-blind/382136/44 "2006-11-29T20:41:28Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] … it would be hard to mistake a pink square ten with a yellow rectangular twenty. [/QUOTE] Appropos of nothing, I’m going to have to ask some of the blind guys I used to work with if they’ve ever played Monopoly. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-money-discriminates-against-the-blind/382136/45 "2006-11-29T21:38:45Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] Exactly where do I swipe my card to give money to a stripper? 😃 [/QUOTE] It could be an interesting technological challenge to design a card reader that could be mounted _there_ without interfering with other functions. Hey, MIT mechanical engineering student Dopers – your chance to shine! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-money-discriminates-against-the-blind/382136/46 "2006-11-29T22:06:13Z")
[QUOTE=Polycarp] It could be an interesting technological challenge to design a card reader that could be mounted _there_ without interfering with other functions. Hey, MIT mechanical engineering student Dopers – your chance to shine! 😃 [/QUOTE] Why shouldn’t it interfere? It’s not like they’re -wait, what are the strippers doing on stage in _ **your** _ area?? ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-money-discriminates-against-the-blind/382136/47 "2006-11-30T12:48:18Z")
[QUOTE=Polycarp] It could be an interesting technological challenge to design a card reader that could be mounted _there_ without interfering with other functions. Hey, MIT mechanical engineering student Dopers – your chance to shine! 😃 [/QUOTE] It’s not so much the swiping of the card per se, but then the girl having to stop, ask “Debit or credit?” and then the entering of the PIN and the slip of paper that has to then shoot out of somewhere. You want that poor girl to have to walk around holding a pen all night? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-money-discriminates-against-the-blind/382136/48 "2006-11-30T14:30:11Z")
Our money comes in different colours, all one width but different heights. Blind guy I know tells the denominations by wrapping the note around his index finger and seeing where it sits - middle joint, second knuckle, end-joint, fingertip, past the fingertip. Seems relatively simple, but then, we’ve always had different-coloured notes, and they’ve changed twice in my lifetime. ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2006, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-money-discriminates-against-the-blind/382136/49 "2006-12-01T03:16:53Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] [Link.](http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,232503,00.html) At what point is accomodating the handicapped a negative-sum game? Should the government be forced to revamp all US currency to accomodate the blind? Personal opinion: Yes. It’s done in most other countries, by varying the size of the bills, or printing with raised ink. It’s about time we got with the program and made our currency more modern. I don’t buy the Treasury argument about counterfitting. If anything, the new bills would make them harder to counterfeit, IMO. Discussion? [/QUOTE] The judge IMHO made an emotional decision based on the spurious argument that the current money is not discernable to the blind but that has been refuted in following posts. I have been told that Austraian money is differentiated by value by size. It is printetd on plastic film which outlast paper by a substantial margin and that it can NOT be counterfeited. Long life and prevention of funny munny should be more that adequate incentive to make the switch sooner rather than later! Follows is posting from CR4: "Re: Judge Rules Paper Money Unfair to Blind 11/30/2006 7:19 AM Anybody that has been to Australia will have noticed that we did away with paper money over a decade ago. Yes we use plastic money, no not the credit chard type, the money itself is printed on a polymer film rather than paper or cotton as in the US. There are several safety features that have been incorporated into the plastic money like micro printing that is considerably smaller that the micro printing on paper. Another is a see through windows that contains an image that is formed by separate components on each side of the note. This renders any photo reproduction process like colour photocopiers useless as it reproduces the entire image on both sides.. Also the size of Australian notes has been scaled to the denomination since we converted to decimal currency in 1966. The scaled size not only enables bind people to tell the denomination but also stops forgers from bleaching lower denomination notes, then reprinting them with higher denominations. Polymer bank notes also last something like10 times as long as the paper equivalent making them considerably cheaper in the long run. Also they are extremely difficult to forge and as far a I know to date nobody has ever successful forged an Australian polymer bank note. Here is what an Australian $100 note looks like. I just had a look and found that there are now over 20 countries using the polymer notes so it’s defiantly the way to go. If you wish to see what they look like here is a link to a site that has examples of them from all the countries currently using them. [http://www.polymernotes.org/country\_pages/aus.htm](http://www.polymernotes.org/country_pages/aus.htm) Mind you since the US has still not embraced the metric system I won’t be holding my breath" It would put a lot of folks out of work and some would have to go to work for a living instead of printing their own. :rolleyes: * * * ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2006, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-money-discriminates-against-the-blind/382136/50 "2006-12-01T03:47:23Z")
**spingears** , What method can the completely blind use to discern the different US denominations without outside help (and don’t anyone say, “They listen to the preachers.”)? IMHO, American money is a distant straggler when compared with the notes of almost any other country. It can certainly use a colorful makeover. ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2006, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-money-discriminates-against-the-blind/382136/51 "2006-12-01T18:24:15Z")
Canadian bills use several methods to make them distinguishable by the blind. The diiferent colours and high-contrast numerical values help those who are visually impaired but not totally blind, while braille-like raised dots identify the value for the blind. The notes also have machine-readable value codes which can be read by a special device available free of charge through the Canadian National Institute for the Blind. [Bank Notes - Accessibility Features](http://www.bankofcanada.ca/en/banknotes/accessibility.html) ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2006, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-money-discriminates-against-the-blind/382136/52 "2006-12-02T22:55:59Z")
Even for the fully-sighted, having differently-sized notes makes life easier. I can just glance in my wallet and see one medium-sized bill and one small one, and know I’ve got fifteen pounds. The colors are just an added perk: it’s practically impossible to get confused as to the value of the notes you have. Yes, there would be an annoying transition period (eg, vending machines), but again: a huge chunk of Europe managed to convert to a whole different currency with little trouble; I think us Americans could manage just switching some paper size around. Also, I personally feel that $1 bills are just unnecessary. Again, most European countries do just fine with notes being 5 euro and up. I doubt most people carry tons of singles on them, so what’s the problem with switching to a more tactile-friendly coin? ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-money-discriminates-against-the-blind/382136/53 "2006-12-03T11:16:56Z")
[QUOTE=Monty] IMHO, American money is a distant straggler when compared with the notes of almost any other country. It can certainly use a colorful makeover. [/QUOTE] The problem is, American money is beautiful. I really think the design is a classic. I’d not like for it to be changed too much from a design POV. On the other hand, whenever I’ve used it overseas, my head has been full of those stats about the amount of counterfeit stuff circulating, and beautiful as the design is, it does feel a bit like play money to me. I’d like to see you guys go polymer, but keep the current design. When Austraila went to polymer, we adopted new designs. some of them are good, but I prefer the old 1960’s-era designs we had on the paper notes. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-money-discriminates-against-the-blind/382136/54 "2006-12-13T05:04:46Z")
The government is appealing: > **[Government resists altering money for blind people - CNN.com](http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/12/12/blind.money/index.html)** > > The Bush administration on Tuesday asked a federal court to overturn a lower-court ruling requiring the federal government redesign the nation's paper money to help blind people differentiate between denominations of bills. Figured that was coming. The article is short, and doesn’t specify whether a stay was granted, but I’d assume one was. Going to be interesting to see how DC Circuit handles this one… ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-money-discriminates-against-the-blind/382136/55 "2008-05-20T23:30:02Z")
[The appeals court rules that the government is in violation of the Rehabilitation Act](http://money.cnn.com/2008/05/20/news/money_blind/index.htm). So, unless the Supreme Court overturns, our paper money is gonna have to be quite different. Sorry for dragging this one up, but it was important, I thought, and I didn’t see another thread created yet. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-money-discriminates-against-the-blind/382136/56 "2008-05-21T03:34:01Z")
It’s pretty important, fairly accurate, and meh. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-money-discriminates-against-the-blind/382136/57 "2008-05-21T03:37:14Z")
They’re going to have to re-design the currency so that it can be identified by a blind user’s assistance animal. And while they’re at it, they’re going to change the motto on the back to “In Dog We Trust.” ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-money-discriminates-against-the-blind/382136/58 "2008-05-21T04:06:51Z")
[QUOTE=Cluricaun] It’s not so much the swiping of the card per se, but then the girl having to stop, ask “Debit or credit?” and then the entering of the PIN and the slip of paper that has to then shoot out of somewhere. You want that poor girl to have to walk around holding a pen all night? 😛 [/QUOTE] Simple solution is for the club to issue non-legal tender / funny money. You buy paper funny money with a debit card or whatever, you get it in change when you buy a drink, etc. The funny money can be tucked into garters or changed back into legal tender at the desk on the way out. Ummm… not speaking from experience with an particular venue here… nope, nope. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-money-discriminates-against-the-blind/382136/59 "2008-05-21T09:18:49Z")
There is another advantaged to having more differences between denominations. Anyone who has ever worked a cash register as at one point or another stuck a 20 in the 5 drawer, given it away as change, and then had hell to pay at the end of the night when things don’t balance. I will gladly buy a new wallet if I save some other poor cashier this problem. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-money-discriminates-against-the-blind/382136/60 "2008-05-21T14:03:38Z")
Man, they’re going to have to redesign every ATM and vending machine and cash register. Ow. That ain’t gonna be cheap. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-money-discriminates-against-the-blind/382136.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-money-discriminates-against-the-blind/382136.md?page=4)