Making 'sense' of the $

Earlier last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the current state of U.S. paper-based currency is discriminatory against blind and partially sighted consumers. Given that a $1 and a $100 bill essentially feel the same, it was agreed that blind individuals are being denied meaningful access to the standard currency.

Here in Canada, I have come across several bills, granted it is those more recently produced, that can be identified by a helpful tactile feature. At the top right corner of these select bills, there is a six-dot braille cell that represents a particular denomination, with additional cells as the denomination increases. For example, the $5 bill has one cell, the $10, two, $20, three, and so on. The braille on the brand new or gently used bills is easily felt, but as you can imagine with similar paper materials, the dots become worn over time, and more difficult to identify the bill.
 
There has been a combination of celebration, debate and protest following this ruling. One group cheering the recent decision is the American Council of the Blind (ACB), who originally approached the government six years ago with their concerns, and have faced resistance ever since. Suggestions from the community of ensuring accessibility range from differing the sizes of bills, including tactical features, and transitioning entirely from bills to coin.
 
Either way, if the Treasury Department chooses not to appeal the decision, or loses its pursued case, they will be forced to alter the bills in some way to ensure that blind and partially sighted consumers are able to distinguish between all, allowing them greater independence, confidence with transactions, and potentially even employment opportunities.
 
Kudos to the U.S. Court of Appeals for recognizing the difficulty that blind citizens face when attempting to identify a particular bill among several others.   While there are a variety of common methods utilized by consumers in order to feel certain of denominations possessed, this often first requires the assistance of a sighted individual or talking device, defeating the whole idea of desired independence and privacy. Stay tuned for the decision.