According to this report, by a “2-to-1 decision, …the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, held that the Treasury Department had failed to demonstrate that it would be too burdensome to make bills of different sizes or add features that could be read by touch to distinguish monetary value.”
That means that unless the government further appeals this case, we will soon have major changes in our paper currency; and dollar bills in various denominations will be easier to distinguish from each other, especially if you are visually impaired.
This report describes the following appeal options: ”The government could appeal to the full 13-member appeals court (one of whose judges, David S. Tatel, is blind), or it could seek quick review by the Supreme Court, a step it has 90 days to take.”
This current decision against the government supports an earlier federal court decision in the same case. Back in 2006 a federal judge decided that “the government was violating the Rehabilitation Act” against blind people “by keeping all U.S. currency the same size and texture” - see Judge Says Currency Shortchanges the Blind .
In that earlier decision the judge wrote-
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 …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. (Washington Post)
What do you think about this decision?
If you think it’s going too far, I think you should watch the movie Ray before you make up your mind.
I’m not sure what I would have thought a couple of weeks ago. But I just saw the movie Ray within the past week, and it opened up my eyes to this issue in a way I never thought of before.
Ray is the life story of Ray Charles. You probably know him as one of the great jazz musicians who died not that long ago. You might know that he was blind since childhood. Most people probably don’t know all the challenges he faced transitioning from a poor, Southern single parent family to become the R&B legend that we know him to be.
The movie shows the barriers of race, economic class, and religion he had to negotiate in order to find a way to express the musical talents he had welling up inside him. One of his strikingly interesting practices was that he usually insisted on being paid in one-dollar bills since it was the only way he could keep from being cheated - and also so he could function as an independent person.
This insistence that he be paid in one-dollar bills was apparently employed through through much of the time it took to establish his career; but it would only have worked during the times he lived, since it was a simpler time. Simpler financially perhaps, since wages were lower then; but not easier for a person who had to travel all over the country from gig to gig with his limitations.
The impact of seeing how having only one-dollar bills helps a blind person be in control of their life is arresting. Although it is inspiring to witness the heroic efforts of someone overcoming difficult challenges; there is also a case to be made for removing obstacles to normal functioning when that can be accomplished with reasonable efforts. Given that so many other countries are already serving the needs of the blind with their currencies, it seems that the US government could find a way.