Federal court: Paper money discriminates against the blind

Thing that I always find funny is ATM machines that have the numbers in braille. If a blind person needs the braille numbers, how are they supposed to see the screen in front of them?

Former QB Jim Plunkett, in his book, wrote about how sometimes people at his nearly-blind father's store wouldn't tell him he miscounted their change and would pocket the extra money.

 

The drive-thru ATM's also have the braille.

 

I've noticed that too.

I once asked a bank manager about the braille on the keyboard, and she said it was just in case someone could see the screen well enough, but not the numbers on the keypad.

 

I worked as a cashier at a place for awhile, which obviously involved handling money. No matter how much I washed my hands and how much hand sanitizer I used, I felt like I was constantly getting sick. Now, I'm back to barely ever getting anything. Maybe it's cause I finally built up antibodies to everything, but I'd bet that it's cause I don't have to touch the money any more.

 

Instead of putting bumps on the money, couldn't they just cut the bills to different sizes?
Coins are different sizes, so why not make the bills different sizes and then vision-impaired or blind people could tell them apart?
Or go with slightly different features... have one bill have rounded corners, one bill be a square instead of a rectangle, etc.

 

That's what they do with Euros and it would probably be a good idea here. You'd have to replace all the cash register drawers, remake ATMs and bill changers. Another thing that would help the blind would be to get rid of the $1 bill and replace it with a coin, but no one wants to do that.

 

Now, how long would that last in circulation?

 

An average dollar bill stays in circulation for about 18 months. Ones with raised markings for the sight-impaired likely would not last as long. If they did, the cost of creating them would certainly increase.

 

I know. It was a rhetorical question.

 

That and the incidents of identity theft would jack up from all the people using debit cards instead of cash in a cashless and coinless society.

 

That's because when ATMs are sent to banks, they are not designated as "walk-up" or "drive-through".

Bank decides where they go after they arrive. So all are sent with braille.