I found this on Yahoo! News this morning and wasn't sure what to think.

On one hand, I don't like the thought of anyone being discriminated against. But on the other hand, what's being asked to happen is a HUGE undertaking.

What do you guys think?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080520/ap_on_bi_ge/blind_money

It would cost so much money to redo everything, and what would we do with our traditional money? How could we replace everyone's?

This is insane. Don't get me wrong, I'm very compassionate toward disabled people, but this request is too much.

The same way we England replaced its money? over 30 years we've changed our money so many times. When our money gets old what happens is when you buy something it eventually makes its way to the bank, once it gets there they remove it out of existence and it is replaced with new money. Infact we've just chose new designs which are being put out in England now, the old money will be removed from circulation. If you where to take the old money to the bank, some which is over a decade old, and won't work in shops and drinks machines, you simply go to any bank and ask for them to change it, that simple. Considering your country makes new money every day, what's stopping them from adding soemthing to the notes? it's really cheap.

Euro FTW: http://www.atkielski.com/PDF/data/euroguide.txt

yes it is true! these damn treasury people have been discriminating blind people since the 1800's!

foolish founding fathers!

If this was a problem, why hasnt it been accounted for before.

We are changing our money (anyone seen that new purple $5 bill?)

This message has been edited. Last edited by: VTAssault,

Judging from what Lucy said about the Pound changing so much, I don't see why it would be so hard for us to change our money. *Shrug* I guess I don't see any real reason why we shouldn't at least try. It would take time for all the new bills to circulate but I honestly don't see what the problem would be.

There is a way to do this actually. All blind people are taught to read braille. Install beads into all new currency as the paper is being made just as the watermarks are. Put the number beads in one area of the bill. Problems solved. Yes, it may take a while for the entire circulation of bills change over, but it will eventually be of the braille bills.

My dad's blind, and he's often worried that a cashier will give him incorrect change, whether accidentally or on purpose (it has happened). I'm completely in favor of this change, it's bad enough for a person's self esteem to not be able to see, but to not have complete control over simple money transactions is terrible.

Not all blind people know braille, if you were to go blind late in life, learning this can be extremely difficult. It would also be pretty easily flattened and unreadable. If it were to be done, it would probably be best to do something like 1 rounded edge for a 5, 2 for a ten, 3 for a twenty, 4 for a hundred, and maybe no edges rounded for a one . Though this could be difficult since there'd be one bills still around with no rounded edges, but I suppose if the cashier accidentally gave my dad something bigger then a one he wouldn't mind.

bottom line: blind people don't need money


anyway what about bank cards and what about blind people just using dollar bills

I agree with OP about agreeing on one hand, and disagreeing on the other. I mean, everyone wants equality... but not EVERYTHING can be changed for things to be equal. Once someone gets equality for one thing, they another comes up and another and antoher. Sooner or later everyone wants more any more to be equal. Trying to change something as big as the money system in the US is something huge.

Blind people could be issued a special card to deal with their money issues. Not to give the idea that they don't deserve equality, they deserve it just as much as the next person. But it's almost too huge of a task for what they want, in my opinion.

Nicole, you don't get the point. To have the money in hand that you can tell what you have verses a card tell you nothing. The cashier can still short change a blind person, only if that person has the cash in hand that they can decipher then they will not be short changed. This debate can go on for ever and what is wrong with making things easier for other people. Next time put your selves in their place and see if you could handle what they go through.

Well i guess if they sue the government for discrimination they could just get payed off in monopoly money. What would they know? They are blind.

LOL

quote:

Originally posted by Boobisphere:
Well i guess if they sue the government for discrimination they could just get payed off in monopoly money. What would they know? They are blind.

LOL

Yes they would. Monopoly money is made from trees. The US uses paper made from cotton for it's legal tender. 2 different feels.

This is another reason I think cards would be better for those who can't tell the differences between bills. Cards take out the exact amount being spent from a bank account. If there is no change to be given there is no possibility of being short changed to begin with. It handles the issue of blind citizens being taken advantage of without requiring the huge undertaking of reprinting of all the paper monies in the US.

For the record I have no problem with new dollar bills being reprinted with brail or some kind of indetifying qualities for blind people...when the US decides due to a greater need...for example wear on current bills requiring a reprint. But, God only knows when that would be necessary and how long it would take to replace all bills. A credit/debit card seems to be a better solution.

quote:

Originally posted by Angel Fire:
Nicole, you don't get the point. To have the money in hand that you can tell what you have verses a card tell you nothing. The cashier can still short change a blind person, only if that person has the cash in hand that they can decipher then they will not be short changed. This debate can go on for ever and what is wrong with making things easier for other people. Next time put your selves in their place and see if you could handle what they go through.

I do get the point, but my view is pretty much EXACTLY like Jackies' is. If I was in their place, I wouldn't want to get short changed. If I had a card then I would have a better chance of not getting "short changed" because it's electronically taken out of an account instead of handled by the cashier.

If they had a card, they would (should?) know the exact amount of money they have ON the card, so they would know the exact amount of money they have left on the card if they keep track of the funds in their head or something.

I have nothing against making new money to make them equal, but that's such a huge request.

quote:

Originally posted by TFS_Jackie:
For the record I have no problem with new dollar bills being reprinted with brail or some kind of indetifying qualities for blind people...when the US decides due to a greater need...for example wear on current bills requiring a reprint. But, God only knows when that would be necessary and how long it would take to replace all bills. A credit/debit card seems to be a better solution.

I believe every 1-3 years the treasury deptartment removes somewhere between 5-15 million of old bills and in puts 10-20 million of the new prints. (can't find the article where states how much they remove and add).

Would plastic really be a solution? Since, identity fraud is on the rise. I would not be surprised if some people would purposely target the blind for this reason alone.

Well being a former cashier, I do know that a card is not the answer either. A cashier could tell a person one amount and charge a higher amount. You would be surprised at the length some people would go the rip others. My dad was blind but some how he could tell the difference between bills. He always said it was the feel of the bill. I do know that some tellers and cashiers can tell a bogus bill by the way it feels. Been there done that.

See my above post as to why US currency feels the way it does.

There was an article about this very thing in USAToday today. It stated how Canada solved said problem, embossed dots denoting the currency, similar to what I suggested earlier. Again, it could be implented as my earlier suggestion. As new paper for money is made, include said feature in the paper then. It might take a while, but eventually, circulation turnover will get them all through the system. When was the last time anyone saw an old 5, 10 20 or 100 that didn't have the watermark or large portrait? They have been turning over currency about every ten years it seems (as well as introducing new counterfieting features at the same time).

Like WK has stated it is pretty simple actually. At the cost of taxpayers it is not a lot of money to do the braille on the bills.

Credit/debit cards should be a choice for them to make themselves.