Court Rules That Paper Money Discriminates Against the Blind

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2008-05-21 12:52am

Just like in every other country, even pissant countries like New Zealand? Oh no!

Phantasee · Post by **Phantasee** » 2008-05-21 12:58am

The braille doesn't wear out much on the Canadian $5 bills, and those are our most circulated bills. We use a similar polymer sort of thing that you Aussies use, I believe. It's hardened somehow.

Multicolour bills are a wonderful thing. Like Stark said, you can see how much cash you have on hand without having to open your wallet. Compared to my trips to the US, where I have to actually pull out the bills and see what the hell they are, most other countries have a saner system. Even my uncle, a long-time resident of Detroit, has the same problem.

Different sizes are just another minor feature that helps in handling of bills, it was a fair bit easier to handle Euros when I was in Italy than Canadian bills here, just because they have almost every feature, from multicolour bills, to different sizes.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2008-05-21 01:08am

Phantasee wrote:The braille doesn't wear out much on the Canadian $5 bills, and those are our most circulated bills. We use a similar polymer sort of thing that you Aussies use, I believe. It's hardened somehow.

Cool. Where do they have the bumps? I'm going to find out about your crazy money now! NO SECRETS.

Dargos · Post by **Dargos** » 2008-05-21 01:22am

Lord MJ wrote:Aren't European currencies (both Euro and pre-Euro bills) already have different sizes per denomination?

And they have braille bumps to boot.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2008-05-21 01:24am

Are the Euro ones actual braille? It appears the Canadian notes simply use a system of bumps, it's not actually braille.

Braedley · Post by **Braedley** » 2008-05-21 01:30am

MariusRoi wrote:I just wonder what the non governmental cost is going to be (all of the coin and vending machines that take bills over 1 USD would need to be changed.

Actually, it's not that bad. The microcontroller just needs to be reflashed. This wouldn't be the first time that the US has come out with new bank notes. The last time the Federal Reserve released a new version of a note was 4 years ago.

Phantasee · Post by **Phantasee** » 2008-05-21 01:42am

They're in the top right of the face side, same side as the holographic bar. My fives are of the older series, so they don't have it, but my tens and twenties do (I'm looking through my wallet).

They aren't real braille, unfortunately, but I hope they come to their senses and make them so. It's not like it's hard...

Academia Nut · Post by **Academia Nut** » 2008-05-21 01:47am

Actually, from what I understand the Canadian government was planning on making them braille but the blind people in the testing groups specifically asked for just some raised bumps as they could make the different bills more distinctive and readily recognizable via touch than if they were braille, or something like that. But yeah, when you hear about the bumps you immediately check your wallet and then go "Cool".

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2008-05-21 01:52am

Academia Nut wrote:Actually, from what I understand the Canadian government was planning on making them braille but the blind people in the testing groups specifically asked for just some raised bumps as they could make the different bills more distinctive and readily recognizable via touch than if they were braille, or something like that. But yeah, when you hear about the bumps you immediately check your wallet and then go "Cool".

Yeah, apparently it's an accessibility thing because not all blind people actually know braille, and the system on the notes is very simple.

His Divine Shadow · Post by **His Divine Shadow** » 2008-05-21 01:53am

havokeff wrote:I'm going with whining. Hell even the NFB thinks it's needless. However the easiest way to fix this is to just put brail numbers on the bills and raise the new reflective numbers some. At least in the beginning of life, that feature would be useful. After some time in a wallet, maybe not so much.

The dollar bills need an update though. You should really do a whole host of changes. Such as differing sizes, adding braille (or something like it) and also embossing the numbers so you can feel them and start making them of that polymer australian money uses so they last longer.

PeZook · Post by **PeZook** » 2008-05-21 03:12am

We implemented all those features like ten years ago. I was in elementary school when it happened, and we're a piss-poor country

Hell: our money had different colours since the end of World War II

The blind-friendly system on new notes is very simple

Here's a nice illustration

Those shapes in the low-left of the new notes are bumpy and very distinctive, and they don't wear out fast - even worn 10 zloty notes are usually distinctive enough.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2008-05-21 03:18am

Those shapes are interesting - are they 'hard' enough to resist folding in that area, or are they just something woven under the surface of the note? They appear to be paper/linen notes rather than all-polymer ones like AU's.

PeZook · Post by **PeZook** » 2008-05-21 03:39am

Stark wrote:Those shapes are interesting - are they 'hard' enough to resist folding in that area, or are they just something woven under the surface of the note? They appear to be paper/linen notes rather than all-polymer ones like AU's.

Yeah, they're paper notes. The bump are just pressed into the paper - so if you get a really worn note, it won't be distinctive, but that's rare. In fact, I have a pretty worn note in my pocket right now, and I can still clearly feel the bumps.

I posted this because I found it hilarious that a country with 1/3rd the GDP per capita of the US could make notes with such features, while for the US, it's apparently too costly

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2008-05-21 04:04am

That's pretty cool; so is it a bump on one side and a hollow on the other, just 'pressed' through the note like a crease?

Turns out Americans are really conservative, and both try to reinvent everything for first principles regardless of how many nations have done it (like health systems) and complain about how much it might maybe cost. It's wierd, given their huge wealth, especially when POLAND and NEW ZEALAND can do it without either problems or massive debate.

wautd · Post by **wautd** » 2008-05-21 04:11am

Lord MJ wrote:Aren't European currencies (both Euro and pre-Euro bills) already have different sizes per denomination?

But anyway, I agree that Braille would solve all the problems.

Yes + different colours.

Pre-euro we had braille too, but I don't seem to find it on euro's

wautd · Post by **wautd** » 2008-05-21 04:13am

Hmm missed page two

Dargos wrote:
Lord MJ wrote:Aren't European currencies (both Euro and pre-Euro bills) already have different sizes per denomination?

And they have braille bumps to boot.

Where can I find them?

PeZook · Post by **PeZook** » 2008-05-21 04:18am

Stark wrote:That's pretty cool; so is it a bump on one side and a hollow on the other, just 'pressed' through the note like a crease?

Not quite. It's done with hot steel-etching print AFAIK.

Stark wrote:It's wierd, given their huge wealth, especially when POLAND and NEW ZEALAND can do it without either problems or massive debate.

Take note that Poland did it ten years ago in a period of inflation and massive debt. It was part of a series of measures to fix the economy (note the "old bills" on the picture - yeah, we actually had two million zloty bills in circulation).

Dargos · Post by **Dargos** » 2008-05-21 04:24am

wautd wrote:Hmm missed page two

Dargos wrote:
Lord MJ wrote:Aren't European currencies (both Euro and pre-Euro bills) already have different sizes per denomination?

And they have braille bumps to boot.

Where can I find them?

I am sorry, I was completly wrong. I was thinking of the old Deustch Marks. They had a braille like marks, Euros don't. My bad sorry.

Dahak · Post by **Dahak** » 2008-05-21 06:59am

I recently had a bunch of Dollar notes in my hand.
Not only did they smell...funny, I found them to look like a bad joke. Felt almost like Monopoly money. And they were lacking really distinct differences. If you're even slightly visually impaired, that really seems to be a problem, at least for me.
They really need a drastic make-over...

Sure, it's costly, but I mean if the EU can change not one but several currencies without the sky falling, I think the USA can, too.

PeZook · Post by **PeZook** » 2008-05-21 07:07am

Dahak wrote: Sure, it's costly, but I mean if the EU can change not one but several currencies without the sky falling, I think the USA can, too.

They only really need to retool the presses. They could just introduce the new currency gradually, over several years. The old notes will be phased out of circulation in a natural way, and for a time the US would have two patterns of legal currency. Bill-taking machines could then be gradually modified.

His Divine Shadow · Post by **His Divine Shadow** » 2008-05-21 07:55am

I got a 5 dollar bill in my wallet for some reason. I think it looks really nice myself.

Raesene · Post by **Raesene** » 2008-05-21 10:42am

Some parts of euro notes are printed in a raised/lowered profile, people whose fingertips are more sensitive than mine might be able to use that as identification.

Havok · Post by **Havok** » 2008-05-21 02:32pm

This is awesome. Most of the time its... "Why does the U.S. force everything on the rest of the world!" now... rest of the world.. "Conform with us damn you!"

Seriously. Most Americans don't like the way other countries monies look. We think that it looks like Monopoly money. I couldn't even count how many complaints I've heard since we started making the slight changes to our money. For whatever reason we seem to like the very old stoic look of our Presidents and their very serious bills. It's like we think adding color will demean them or something.

Personally, I don't give a shit what it looks like as long as I have some and I can spend it.

Terralthra · Post by **Terralthra** » 2008-05-21 03:08pm

havokeff wrote:This is awesome. Most of the time its... "Why does the U.S. force everything on the rest of the world!" now... rest of the world.. "Conform with us damn you!"

Seriously. Most Americans don't like the way other countries monies look. We think that it looks like Monopoly money. I couldn't even count how many complaints I've heard since we started making the slight changes to our money. For whatever reason we seem to like the very old stoic look of our Presidents and their very serious bills. It's like we think adding color will demean them or something.

Personally, I don't give a shit what it looks like as long as I have some and I can spend it.

Well, there's a simple solution for that. Continue with the very serious money, but change the format around so it's a full-body image of the various presidents. The $1 (Washington) would be an average height and width, the $5 (Lincoln) would be taller and thinner, the $10 could have Taft on it and be below average height and very wide...maybe the $20 could be FDR and be only as tall as the wheelchair.

Havok · Post by **Havok** » 2008-05-21 03:16pm

Terralthra wrote:
havokeff wrote:This is awesome. Most of the time its... "Why does the U.S. force everything on the rest of the world!" now... rest of the world.. "Conform with us damn you!"

Seriously. Most Americans don't like the way other countries monies look. We think that it looks like Monopoly money. I couldn't even count how many complaints I've heard since we started making the slight changes to our money. For whatever reason we seem to like the very old stoic look of our Presidents and their very serious bills. It's like we think adding color will demean them or something.

Personally, I don't give a shit what it looks like as long as I have some and I can spend it.
Well, there's a simple solution for that. Continue with the very serious money, but change the format around so it's a full-body image of the various presidents. The $1 (Washington) would be an average height and width, the $5 (Lincoln) would be taller and thinner, the $10 could have Taft on it and be below average height and very wide...maybe the $20 could be FDR and be only as tall as the wheelchair.

Why though? Why the need for different sized bills? I don't really see the advantage other than just being too lazy to look in your wallet?