[bksvol-discuss] OT: Fwd: Fw: Feeling short-changed
- From: Cindy <popularplace@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 7 Mar 2005 20:06:10 -0800 (PST)
A friend sent me a couple of articles that I found
interesting and also felt wsere worth sharing. This is
the first.
Cindy
>
>
> MetroWest Daily News, MA
> Friday, March 04, 2005
>
> Feeling short-changed
>
> By Theresa Edo / Daily News Staff
>
> All people, including someone who is blind
> getting change back for a
> pizza delivery and another with sight reaching for
> change at a highway toll
> booth, can benefit from paper money with a different
> feel, Kevin Heaton
> said.
>
> Heaton, 25, who is visually impaired, is
> working with an independent
> group of blind and sighted activists called
> OurMoneyToo.org to shed some
> light on an issue that is decades old -- adding
> tactile features, that is,
> anything that can be felt, to U.S. paper currency.
>
> Since American paper money is all the same
> size, shape and ure, it is
> impossible to distinguish between bills without
> looking at them. Keeping
> tabs on paper money can slow down sighted people,
> but it causes constant
> problems for people who are blind or visually
> impaired, said Heaton, an
> Ashland resident.
>
> "We just want money that would be accessible to
> everyone," said Heaton,
> who graduated last spring from Westfield State
> College with a degree in
> political science.
>
> Members of the Massachusetts Alliance of Vision
> Impaired Students this
> fall established the group and its Web site,
> www.OurMoneyToo.org. The site
> provides information on currency with tactile
> features and ways to contact
> members of Congress.
>
> OurMoneyToo.org is hosting an event Wednesday,
> noon to 2 p.m., in
> Boston's City Hall Plaza to raise awareness for its
> cause. Members will be
> imprinting Braille on money and displaying examples
> of foreign currency with
> different tactile features.
>
> "We chose this issue because it's do-able.
> Other countries have done
> it," said OurMoneyToo.org member Alison Roberts of
> Arlington. "We change our
> currency every few years anyway to keep ahead of
> counterfeiters. Why not
> include this?"
>
> More than 100 countries have already
> incorporated size variation or
> some other distinctive tactile feature to make their
> paper currency easier
> to use, the group said. Canadian dollars have a
> system of raised symbols;
> British pounds can be distinguished by size; and
> Euros use a combination of
> features.
>
> "It's not fair to ask blind people to be more
> organized with their
> money," said Roberts.
>
> People who are blind must fold their bills in
> different ways, keep them
> in separate compartments in their wallet or simply
> trust that others are not
> switching bills without their knowledge. Or, they
> must purchase reading
> machines, often priced near $300, that, like vending
> machines, often do not
> work with anything but crisp, new bills.
>
> "When I was in high school, I wasn't able to
> work as a cashier," said
> Heaton. "A cashier is an entry-level job. But it was
> hard to get."
>
> Opponents say it is too costly and too involved
> to update the entire
> American system for exchanging money. But advocates
> of tactile features on
> paper currency say it could benefit everyone.
>
> "Some people would say it is an accommodation
> for people who are blind,
> but I say it enhances their independence," said
> Dennis Polselli, chairman of
> Framingham's Disability Commission.
>
> Polselli, who is blind, said he believes the
> U.S. Treasury Department
> should take a closer look at the issue.
>
> "The government gives us all kinds of excuses,"
> said Polselli,
> Disabilities Service Coordinator for Framingham
> State College. "It almost
> seems offensive that we would have to launch a
> lobbying effort for something
> that seems so obvious."
>
> State Rep. Tom Sannicandro, D-Ashland, believes
> changing paper currency
> is an important issue to review, but the question
> remains how to get it
> done.
>
> "It's an easy thing for the government to fix,
> and it would help
> everyone," said Sannicandro.
>
> Sannicandro said he urges anyone concerned
> about this or any issue to
> lobby their legislator, both via letters and in
> person.
>
> ( (Theresa Edo can be reached at 508-626-3919 or
> tedo@xxxxxxxx) )
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
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>
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