US court rules paper money discriminates against blind
WASHINGTON (AFP) — A US federal appeals court on Tuesday ruled that the country's one-sized paper money discriminates against the blind and told the government to change the currency's size and texture.
The court upheld a previous ruling in November 2006 by federal Judge James Robertson who had ordered the Treasury Department to find a way to accommodate the more than three million visually-impaired Americans who have trouble distinguishing the different US denominations which are all the same size and color.
By a vote of two to one, the appeals court agreed with the earlier decision favoring the American Council of the Blind and referred the case back to Robertson to examine practical steps to be taken.
"A large majority of other currency systems have accommodated the visually impaired, and the (treasury) secretary does not explain why US currency should be any different," the court said in its ruling.
The judge compared the US notes with currency from Japan or European states, including Swiss bills containing details that can be identified by touch.
"We're reviewing the ruling," Brookly McLaughlin, spokeswoman for the Treasury Department, told AFP.
McLaughlin said "Treasury has been working to improve the nation's paper currency to best serve the needs of all Americans, including those who are blind or visually impaired."
She said the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, which prints the country's paper dollars, had commissioned a study to look at how to serve the blind.
The Treasury Department had advanced several arguments against modifying the notes, saying it would impose a heavy financial and administrative burden.
It said the move would require buying new printing presses that would cost about 178 million dollars and between 37 to 50 million for each plate corresponding with different denominations.
Some 937,000 Americans are legally blind, while an additional 2.4 million have "low vision" and are unable to read newspaper print, according to documents filed in the 2006 case.
The American Council of the Blind has argued in the case that of over 180 countries around the world that issue paper currency, only the United States prints bills that are identical in size and color in all denominations.
