[real-eyes] myth or fact sheet

From: "& Ruthie" <chaosynchronous@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <real-eyes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 6 Jan 2007 17:39:24 -0600
Got this from another list I'm on that is actually jheavily NFB...go figure.

Accessible Paper Currency - Myth vs. Fact
TRUE OR FALSE?
Making paper currency accessible to the blind and visually impaired is
an extreme measure and an unheard of accommodation.
FALSE
Almost 200 countries issuing paper currency have made their currency
accessible using various methods, leaving the United States as the only
nation that prints bills that are identical in size and color in all
their denominations. These include nations and groups with larger
populations and currency printing needs such as Canada and the European
Union, but also smaller countries such as Barbados, Namibia and Uruguay.
TRUE OR FALSE?
Making paper currency accessible isn't really necessary because it only
affects a small group of people.
FALSE
Cataracts, which result in cloudy or blurred vision, affect 20.5 million
people in the United States today, but that number will rise to 30
million in 2020. Diabetes as a result of obesity is an increasing issue
for millions of Americans, and for 5.3 million of them, diabetic
retinopathy will cause vision loss. For seniors, age-related macular
degeneration and glaucoma will affect 1.6 million and 2.2 million people
respectively, and those numbers are expected to grow. What those
statistics mean is that roughly 1 in 250 people will have some sort of
visual impairment by 2020.
In addition, making paper currency accessible will impact a much larger
group of individuals than just those who are blind and visually
impaired. The increased ease in differentiating money will work to the
benefit of seniors, individuals with cognitive disabilities and even
people without disabilities in environments where there is low lighting
such as restaurants, taxicabs, and bars.
Curb cuts were created for individuals who use wheelchairs, yet
non-disabled pedestrians such as people with strollers, wheeled luggage
and moving dollies have significantly benefited and make regular use of
curb cuts. Closed captioning was initially thought of as an imposition
forced on the public by the deaf community, and yet it is now widely
used in places such as airports, hospitals, bars and gyms. Creating an
additional means of identifying paper currency has the potential to be
just as beneficial to society as a whole.
TRUE OR FALSE?
Making paper currency accessible makes it easier to counterfeit U.S.
money.
FALSE
The advent of computers, scanners and printers and other even newer
technology has made counterfeiting even easier. However, tactile
changes, such as a number of those proposed and utilized by other
nations as a part of their accessible currency initiatives, make it more
difficult to counterfeit currency.



Ruthie &

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[real-eyes] myth or fact sheet

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