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Paper Money Limits Access For Blind, Court Decides

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The Associated Press

Published: May 21, 2008

WASHINGTON - Close your eyes, reach into your wallet and try to distinguish between a $1 bill and a $5 bill. Impossible? It's also discriminatory, a federal appeals court says.

Since all paper money feels pretty much the same, the government is denying blind people meaningful access to the currency, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled Tuesday. The decision could force the Treasury Department to make bills of different sizes or print them with raised markings or other distinguishing features.

The American Council of the Blind sued for such changes, but the government has been fighting the case for about six years.

The United States acknowledges the current design hinders blind people, but it argues that they have adapted. Some rely on store clerks to help, some use credit cards and others fold certain corners to help distinguish between bills.

"We applaud what they're doing," said Sheryl Brown, rehabilitation services manager for Tampa Lighthouse for The Blind.

Making printed money more accessible to the blind has been a long-standing issue, Brown said. Her agency and others are devoted to teaching blind clients to be independent.

Identifying money has always been a challenge, but "not impossible," she said. There are money-counting machines, but not everyone can afford those, she said.
Lighthouse for The Blind teaches clients to feel the edges of coins to differentiate between values, but paper bills present challenges.

"We teach them to fold the money differently," Brown said. Dollar bills stay open; Five-dollar bills are folded in half; Ten-dollar bills, lengthwise; and twenty-dollar bills are folded in thirds. Someone still must separate the denominations.

There also are wallets where the money can be kept in separate folds, she said, but the client still is reliant on someone helping them sort the money.

"We recommend the bank or a family member help with that," Brown said.

Even then, the client can't be 100 percent sure it's accurate, she said. Printing money with Braille or using different sizes for each amount would go a long way in allowing clients to be in control of their money, she said.

"With the baby boomers aging, we're about to have the biggest number of seniors ever," she said.

Many will have vision problems that result in being legally blind, and money won't be their only concern.

Cell phones and Internet systems will have to improve, too, Brown said.

Adapting Isn't Enough, Court Says

The court ruled 2-1 that such adaptations were insufficient under the Rehabilitation Act. The government might as well argue that there's no need to make buildings accessible to wheelchairs because handicapped people can crawl on all fours or ask passers-by for help, the court said.

"Even the most searching tactile examination will reveal no difference between a $100 bill and a $1 bill. The secretary has identified no reason that requires paper currency to be uniform to the touch," Judge Judith W. Rogers wrote for the majority.

Courts don't decide how to design currency. That's up to the Treasury Department, and the ruling forces it to address what the court called a discriminatory problem.

That could still take years. The government could ask for a rehearing by the full appeals court or challenge the decision to the Supreme Court.

Government Making Strides

Brookly McLaughlin, a Treasury Department spokeswoman, said the department was reviewing the opinion. She noted that the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, which prints the nation's currency, recently hired a contractor to consider ways to help the blind. The results will be available early next year.

While the government has been fighting to overturn the lower court ruling, it has been taking some steps toward modifying U.S. currency for the visually impaired. The redesign of the $5 bill in March features a giant "5" printed in purple on one side of the bill to help those with vision problems distinguish the bill.

Indeed, Treasury has previously considered making different sizes of bills but ran into opposition from makers of vending and change machines. Not all blind people agree that U.S. money should be changed. The National Federation of the Blind sided with the government and told the appeals court that no changes were needed.

Charlie Richardson, the legally blind manager of Charlie's Express Stop inside the Capitol in Albany, N.Y., said he doesn't oppose changing the money but disagrees with the ruling.

"To actually be discriminated against is to have something denied to you," Richardson said. "We're not denied the use of money."

Tribune reporter Sherri Ackerman contributed to this report.

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