AP: U.S. appeals court rules that paper money discriminates against the blind.

CNN ^ | 5/20/2008 | AP

[untenured]

Secondly, there is absolutely no feasible or pragmatic way for a blind person to tell what denominations are passing through his hands.

Not sure if you mean "using current money" or under any circumstances, but in some countries different denominations are different sizes, just as coins are here.

[mrhansen]

I dread the idea of living in a ‘cashless’ society. Would you really want EVERYTHING you purchase being scrutinized by whoever?

[Lurking in Kansas]

Why don't they just write a check?

Wait... oops... nevermind.

[rose]

All of you are so fortunate and cavalier. You have no clue as to blindness, I am forced into finding out as my 28yo grandson was run over by a Tahoe, dragged 60 feet and his brain and body bumped and beat horribly. He is recovering from brain injury and blind.
You have no clue as to how hard it is to get him help because of brain injury and blind too. There is help for brain injury but being blind throws a curve the same for being blind, brain injury handicaps you. So, no one really wants to deal with him.
It is difficult to tell money, to learn how to identify clothes, where you are, and on and on and on.
Just be thankful you can see and be so confident and cavalier.

[Kirkwood]

"Secondly, there is absolutely no feasible or pragmatic way for a blind person to tell what denominations are passing through his hands."

Money readers are available and they work for blind-deaf people as well.

[BubbaBasher]

Paper or coins is irrelevant. They still have to trust the cashier to tell them what the total is. They’re blind. I’m sorry. Get over it.

[muawiyah]

It would not be all that easy to put braille on paper money.

Sure, they'd go on there, but they'd be off in a few days of normal handling.

And imagine the counterfeiting opportunities. Take Ones, punch in Hundreds, pass them among the blind.

A thiefs dream ~ get rich by stealing, and plunder the handicapped.

What more could you want eh.

[Kirkwood]

Actually there are many, many services for the blind. Contact the National Federation for the Blind or your regional Lighthouse for the Blind office to get started.

[dalereed]

“Would you want to accept money from a cashier if you couldn’t see what they just gave you.”

Every bill has a different thickness (at least they did 30+ years ago) and the blind can learn to tell the difference by feel.

There used to be a blind man that ran a snack and candy stand in the enterance o a 13 story building in L.A.that could tell what bill you gave him and be able to make change.

I’ve seen people try to cheat him and they never got away with it, He would ask a 3rd person to verify what bill he had been given and he never missed.

[muawiyah]

Money in the US is subject to far more handling by machinery than foreign currencies. Braille will wear out in a few passes here.

[Schnucki]

It's not so obvious from the pictures, but they're all different sizes.

[muawiyah]

The first question a blind person must ask as he or she manipulates money is "is this money or is it something else".

It's much easier to counterfeit the feel of money than the look.

[King of Florida]

Here's the opinion:

http://pacer.cadc.uscourts.gov/common/opinions/200805/07-5063-1117127.pdf

(What's up with HTML links not happening?)

The opinion was written by Judith Rogers, a Clinton appointee. She was joined by Thomas Griffith, a GW Bush appointee. Dissenting was Arthur Raymond Randolph, a GHW Bush appointee.

Basically, the opinion affirms the district court's judgment that the current system violates the federal Rehabilitation Act. Treasury failed to show that the system could not be revamped to use different sized paper currency as is done in other countries.

Get ready for teeny tiny single dollar bills.

[SF Republican]

I would have thought the same, unless of course one actually reads the article before commenting. How much did you want to bet?

[SoCal Pubbie]

I am not opposed to having braille indicators on paper money, but IMHO this should be a matter of legislation or regulation, not the courts. By the same reasoning airlines discriminate against the blind by hiring pilots based on visual acuity. Are there braille panels below each street sign to allow blind pedestrians to navigate? Isn't that discrimination? What about retail packaging, or every piece of mail that's sent each day. There's no way for a blind person to know whether a piece of mail is misaddressed. Isn't all that discrimination too?

[Publius Valerius]

Take Ones, punch in Hundreds, pass them among the blind. A thiefs dream ~ get rich by stealing, and plunder the handicapped.

You've got to be pretty low down to steal from the blind. In my city, the state runs a blind school. At the blind school, they teach the blind all sorts of pretty practical stuff. One guy, who is a graduate of the blind school and an Indianapolis staple, always sells hand made brooms, usually on one particular street corner. About six or seven years ago, I bought a broom from him. I remember it well; it cost $17. I gave him a $20, told him so, and he gave me three singles in return. He kept the bills in different pockets--singles in one, fives in another, tens in still another, etc.

Anyhow, the local paper ran a human interest story on the guy and one of the questions they asked him was how often he got ripped off. He said almost never. He figured that most people just didn't have the heart to scam a blind guy.

Good broom, by the way.

[Tammy8]

So they should add braile to bills; it might have the added benefit of making it harder to counterfit. Dual purpose.

[Axenolith]

Hmmm... Just think, if it were still at a Constitutionally defined ratio of Gold and Silver, the blind could merely use coin for most transactions... (Italicized most because for really big ones they might need something like a notarized cashiers check.)

[AmericaUnited]

What’s next?! Requesting any amount of “money” over $100 discriminates against poor people?

[SoCal Pubbie]

Your sense of smell’s not good. It was Washington D.C.