How do Blind people know how to count money? If they can't see, how do they know what the value is of each bill they hold? I don't personally know any blind people so I decided to bring this question here.

Anyone have an answer?

They fold their money in different ways. Well, actually they have someone else fold it in different ways for them.

A one might have on side folded in, a five might have a corner folded, a ten might be folded in half longitudinally and a twenty horizontally.

Here is a related article I found on Drudge this morning.



Judge: Make Bills Recognizable to Blind
Nov 28 6:10 PM US/Eastern

By MATT APUZZO
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON

The government discriminates against blind people by printing money that all looks and feels the same, a federal judge said Tuesday in a ruling that could change the face of American currency.
U.S. District Judge James Robertson ordered the Treasury Department to come up with ways for the blind to tell bills apart. He said he wouldn't tell officials how to fix the problem, but he ordered them to begin working on it.

The American Council of the Blind has proposed several options, including printing bills of differing sizes, adding embossed dots or foil to the paper or using raised ink.

"Of the more than 180 countries that issue paper currency, only the United States prints bills that are identical in size and color in all their denominations," Robertson wrote. "More than 100 of the other issuers vary their bills in size according to denomination, and every other issuer includes at least some features that help the visually impaired."

Government attorneys argued that forcing the Treasury Department to change the size of the bills or add texture would make it harder to prevent counterfeiting. Robertson was not swayed.

"The fact that each of these features is currently used in other currencies suggests that, at least on the face of things, such accommodations are reasonable," he wrote.

He said the government was violating the Rehabilitation Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in government programs. The opinion came after a four-year legal fight.

Electronic devices are available to help blind people differentiate between bills, but many complain that they are slow, expensive and unreliable. Visually impaired shoppers frequently rely on store clerks to help them.

"It's just frankly unfair that blind people should have to rely on the good faith of people they have never met in knowing whether they've been given the correct change," said Jeffrey A. Lovitky, attorney for the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

Others have developed ways to cope with the similarly shaped bills. Melanie Brunson, a member of the American Council of the Blind, told the court that she folds her bills into different shapes: $1 bills stay straight, $5 bills are folded in half left to right, $10 bills in half top to bottom and $20 in quarters.

The Treasury Department had no comment on the ruling Tuesday. The government has 10 days to decide whether to appeal.

U.S. bills have not always been the same size. In 1929, the government standardized the size and shrank all bills by about 30 percent to lower manufacturing costs and help distinguish between genuine and counterfeit notes.

Since then, the Treasury Department has worked to stay ahead of counterfeiters. Security threads and microprinting were introduced in The portraits were enlarged in 1996, and an infrared feature was added to encourage the development of electronic readers for the blind.

The latest redesign is under way. New $10 bills, featuring splashes of orange, yellow and red, hit the market this year, following similar changes to the $20 bill in 2003 and the $50 bill in 2004. The $5 facelift is due in 2008.

In court documents, government attorneys said changing the way money feels would be expensive. Cost estimates ranged from $75 million in equipment upgrades and $9 million annual expenses for punching holes in bills to $178 million in one-time charges and $50 million annual expenses for printing bills of varying sizes.

Any change to the dollar's design could ripple into the vending machine industry, which participated in discussions regarding previous redesigns. The American Council of the Blind is not seeking changes to the $1 bill, according to court documents.

The Treasury Department spent $4.2 billion on printing over the past decade, Robertson said. Adding a raised number to the bills would have increased costs less than 5 percent over that period, he said.

"If additional savings could be gained by incorporating the new feature into a larger redesign, such as those that took place in 1996 or 2004, the total burden of adding such a feature would be even smaller," Robertson wrote.

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/11/28/D8LMC4600.html

For a blind person in Canada they have braille on the money. There is a man named Joe who works at the pop and ice section of the liquor store and he is blind. For him he says it is real easy to feel the money and know what he is dealing with. He also said if he is not sure he holds it up to the cashier and call it and they confirm it for him. He is always bang on and if not Braille on it no spending is done. lol

Do we (society) ever just tell someone "gee, I'm sorry for your disability, but you need to be self-sufficient enough to come up with the solution."

Here in the US, we're much more advanced. We use braille on our drive-up ATMs!

I heard this morning about the ruckus over currency discriminating against blind people. My first thought was, WOW, we're getting closer and closer to having a perfect world, eh?

Kidding aside... I work with a blind guy who uses a guide dog to get around, a speech program that 'reads' to him what his computer screen sez (including "dot dot dot"), and a braille printer. It's actually pretty amazing to see how self-sufficient he is... considering we work in a downtown high-rise and he rides public transportation... then walks several blocks to the bldg.

I'd be surprised if the subject of braille money was very high on his wish-list.

:)
SMW

P.S. We all have our pictures on nameplates outside our cubes... his has a picture of him AND his dog.

1.3 million legally blind people in the US. Anyone know how much a machine that distinquishes the bills would cost? Probably less overall than it would cost to change our currency.

1.3 million legally blind people in the US.
Where'd you get that fact?
Probably less overall than it would cost to change our currency.They're proposing a lot of things, on NPR I think they mentioned that we might make different scented bills, different sized bills, textured bills, different material bills, and so on. Might cost 50 million dollars to change currency annually for a while.

I have always wondered why all the bills are so similar... My grandmother told me that without her glasses it's easy for her to mistake the bills. I myself have mistaken a $1 for $10 in the morning after a long night...

I have always wondered why all the bills are so similar...
Probably a matter of convenience. Different sizes, textures, and all that create complexity in the bill printing process. As it stands, the Mint only recently starting putting different colors on the bills, and only on the $10s, $20s, and $50s at that.

Where'd you get that fact?
http://www.afb.org/Section.asp?SectionID=15&DocumentID=1367#prev

It's 10 years back though. The our growth rate for the last 10 years has been around 1 percent a year, so for a quick estimate I would say just under 1.5 million now.

Danke.

Might cost 50 million dollars to change currency annually for a while.

I wonder how much it would cost all of the vending machine, ATM, change machine, etc. owners to replace/update all of their machines. Last I heard, they were getting pissed about having to reprogram their machines every time the government came out with a new bill.

I myself have mistaken a $1 for $10 in the morning after a long night...

I'll trade ya singles for $10 bills all day long.