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Quote of the Day - For justice, though she's painted blind, Is to the weaker side inclined. - Samuel Butler
Distinguishing Paper Money Remains A Challenge For The Blind
Here's an exercise for you: open your wallet and take out your paper money, then close your eyes and count it. Not the number of bills, but the amount of money you have based on the denominations of the bills. You likely can feel the difference between a penny, nickel, dime, quarter and even a silver dollar piece such as a Susan B. Anthony or Pocahontas coin. But you can't count your paper money, no matter how hard you try. The American Council of the Blind wants to rectify this problem, and they sued the government to get the U.S. Mint to come up with a way to distinguish bills from one another based on denomination. The U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia agreed, and issued an order to the Treasury Department to come up with a solution. The government disagreed, and filed an appeal. The government said any remedy would be too costly and interfere with its ability to prevent counterfeiting and that blind people should use credit cards instead. On the other hand, the American Council of the Blind offered several suggestions, including embossing, punching holes in the paper or using different-sized bills for different denominations. They've got a Petition, if you're interested.
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