For people who are blind, dealing with money can be very problematic. Without special indicators that help them differentiate between - let’s say - a twenty and a one, it can be very easy to make a mistake and be cheated out of money. Some countries have taken steps to alleviate this problem. Euros, for example, are different sizes depending on the denomination. However, the United States Dollar has no marking of any kind on it to aid the blind. This might be changing, though. From the NY Times:
“On Tuesday, a federal appeals court panel in Washington upheld a lower court ruling that said the government discriminated against the blind or partly blind by making its paper money all the same size and texture. Under the ruling, which may be appealed, the Treasury Department may need to redesign its bills, and vending machines may need to be refitted to accommodate new currency.”
I was all set to write about how Israeli currency needs to also accomodate the blind, when a friend of mine pointed out that it already does. At the top left of NIS notes, there are vertical lines in intaglio ink that are slightly raised. The twenty has two vertical lines, the fifty has three vertical lines, the hundred has one horizontal line and the two-hundred has two horizontal lines. In fact, even the old series of New Israeli Shekels had a sign for the blind. Even the OLD Israeli Shekel did. In fact, Israeli currency has been accessible to the blind since 1975, when the fourth series of the Israeli Pound was issued.
May 26th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
[…] “Israeli currency has been accessible to the blind since 1975,” reflects Josh of Blogs of Zion, responding to a US federal court cases arguing that American money discriminates against the blind. Unlike US dollars, Israeli paper money has raised vertical and horizontal lines that help blind people differentiate between bills. Posted by Maya Norton Share This […]