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Paper Money Discriminates Against Blind, Court Rules

Judge orders Treasury Department to redesign the currency

May 21, 2008

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The blind have a problem when they reach for their wallet. How can they tell a one-dollar bill from a twenty?

A U.S. Appeals Court has ruled that problem amounts to unfair – and illegal – discrimination and has ordered the U.S. Treasury Department to redesign U.S. currency.

The American Council of the Blind brought the case, saying the Treasury Department has a number of simple options. It could make different denominations of bills different sizes, or emboss the bills with patterns that would allow blind consumers to determine the type of bill by touch.

A federal judge agreed with the Council's argument and, by a 2-1 vote, the appeals court concurred, calling the accommodations "reasonable, effective and feasible." The case could possibly be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In bringing the suit, the American Council of the Blind said the U.S. government is violating the Rehabilitation Act, which has the goal of allowing people with disabilities to live independently. The Treasury Department argued that making the changes to the currency would impose an undue and costly burden on taxpayers.

The appeals court sent the case back to the original federal court to decide on the specific steps the government should be required to take.

The Treasury Department, in recent years, has redesigned currency to add color and other features to make it more difficult for counterfeiters to copy it but has turned a deaf ear to the pleas of advocates for the blind.

U.S. District Court Judge Judith Rogers, who heard the case in federal court, said other countries have redesigned their currencies to assist the visually impaired, and the U.S. Government could do the same.

Rogers said a 1995 study found more than 3.7 million Americans are visually impaired, with as many as 200,000 legally blind.

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