No. I'm not making this up.

[otterinbham 0]

The government discriminates against blind people by printing money that all looks and feels the same, a federal judge said Tuesday in a ruling that could change the face of American currency.

U.S. District Judge James Robertson ordered the Treasury Department to come up with ways for the blind to tell bills apart. He said he wouldn't tell officials how to fix the problem, but he ordered them to begin working on it.

The American Council of the Blind has proposed several options, including printing bills of differing sizes, adding embossed dots or foil to the paper or using raised ink.

"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," Robertson wrote. "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."

Government attorneys argued that forcing the Treasury Department to change the size of the bills or add texture would make it harder to prevent counterfeiting. Robertson was not swayed.

"The fact that each of these features is currently used in other currencies suggests that, at least on the face of things, such accommodations are reasonable," he wrote.

He said the government was violating the Rehabilitation Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in government programs. The opinion came after a four-year legal fight.

Electronic devices are available to help blind people differentiate between bills, but many complain that they are slow, expensive and unreliable. Visually impaired shoppers frequently rely on store clerks to help them.

"It's just frankly unfair that blind people should have to rely on the good faith of people they have never met in knowing whether they've been given the correct change," said Jeffrey A. Lovitky, attorney for the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

Others have developed ways to cope with the similarly shaped bills. Melanie Brunson, a member of the American Council of the Blind, told the court that she folds her bills into different shapes: $1 bills stay straight, $5 bills are folded in half left to right, $10 bills in half top to bottom and $20 in quarters.

The Treasury Department had no comment on the ruling Tuesday. The government has 10 days to decide whether to appeal.

U.S. bills have not always been the same size. In 1929, the government standardized the size and shrank all bills by about 30 percent to lower manufacturing costs and help distinguish between genuine and counterfeit notes.

Since then, the Treasury Department has worked to stay ahead of counterfeiters. Security threads and microprinting were introduced in The portraits were enlarged in 1996, and an infrared feature was added to encourage the development of electronic readers for the blind.

The latest redesign is under way. New $10 bills, featuring splashes of orange, yellow and red, hit the market this year, following similar changes to the $20 bill in 2003 and the $50 bill in 2004. The $5 facelift is due in 2008.

In court documents, government attorneys said changing the way money feels would be expensive. Cost estimates ranged from $75 million in equipment upgrades and $9 million annual expenses for punching holes in bills to $178 million in one-time charges and $50 million annual expenses for printing bills of varying sizes.

Any change to the dollar's design could ripple into the vending machine industry, which participated in discussions regarding previous redesigns. The American Council of the Blind is not seeking changes to the $1 bill, according to court documents.

The Treasury Department spent $4.2 billion on printing over the past decade, Robertson said. Adding a raised number to the bills would have increased costs less than 5 percent over that period, he said.

"If additional savings could be gained by incorporating the new feature into a larger redesign, such as those that took place in 1996 or 2004, the total burden of adding such a feature would be even smaller," Robertson wrote.

[bigsixfive 328]

Please don't make them different sizes! That would be annoying, trying to organize all different sizes of bills. When you're a high roller like me and get a Hamilton now and then, you like it to stack nicely with the one or two Washingtons that are already in the wallet.

[AURaptor 1,126]

Some judges won't be content until this country is utterly destroyed. This is the most absurd 'ruling' I've heard in some time.

[TexasTiger 13,017]

The government discriminates against blind people by printing money that all looks and feels the same, a federal judge said Tuesday in a ruling that could change the face of American currency.

U.S. District Judge James Robertson ordered the Treasury Department to come up with ways for the blind to tell bills apart. He said he wouldn't tell officials how to fix the problem, but he ordered them to begin working on it.

The American Council of the Blind has proposed several options, including printing bills of differing sizes, adding embossed dots or foil to the paper or using raised ink.

"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," Robertson wrote. "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."

Government attorneys argued that forcing the Treasury Department to change the size of the bills or add texture would make it harder to prevent counterfeiting. Robertson was not swayed.

"The fact that each of these features is currently used in other currencies suggests that, at least on the face of things, such accommodations are reasonable," he wrote.

He said the government was violating the Rehabilitation Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in government programs. The opinion came after a four-year legal fight.

Electronic devices are available to help blind people differentiate between bills, but many complain that they are slow, expensive and unreliable. Visually impaired shoppers frequently rely on store clerks to help them.

"It's just frankly unfair that blind people should have to rely on the good faith of people they have never met in knowing whether they've been given the correct change," said Jeffrey A. Lovitky, attorney for the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

Others have developed ways to cope with the similarly shaped bills. Melanie Brunson, a member of the American Council of the Blind, told the court that she folds her bills into different shapes: $1 bills stay straight, $5 bills are folded in half left to right, $10 bills in half top to bottom and $20 in quarters.

The Treasury Department had no comment on the ruling Tuesday. The government has 10 days to decide whether to appeal.

U.S. bills have not always been the same size. In 1929, the government standardized the size and shrank all bills by about 30 percent to lower manufacturing costs and help distinguish between genuine and counterfeit notes.

Since then, the Treasury Department has worked to stay ahead of counterfeiters. Security threads and microprinting were introduced in The portraits were enlarged in 1996, and an infrared feature was added to encourage the development of electronic readers for the blind.

The latest redesign is under way. New $10 bills, featuring splashes of orange, yellow and red, hit the market this year, following similar changes to the $20 bill in 2003 and the $50 bill in 2004. The $5 facelift is due in 2008.

In court documents, government attorneys said changing the way money feels would be expensive. Cost estimates ranged from $75 million in equipment upgrades and $9 million annual expenses for punching holes in bills to $178 million in one-time charges and $50 million annual expenses for printing bills of varying sizes.

Any change to the dollar's design could ripple into the vending machine industry, which participated in discussions regarding previous redesigns. The American Council of the Blind is not seeking changes to the $1 bill, according to court documents.

The Treasury Department spent $4.2 billion on printing over the past decade, Robertson said. Adding a raised number to the bills would have increased costs less than 5 percent over that period, he said.

"If additional savings could be gained by incorporating the new feature into a larger redesign, such as those that took place in 1996 or 2004, the total burden of adding such a feature would be even smaller," Robertson wrote.

You might feel differently if you were blind. Hopefully, that doesn't need to happen to you to make you appreciate the challenges the blind face.

[TexasTiger 13,017]

Some judges won't be content until this country is utterly destroyed. This is the most absurd 'ruling' I've heard in some time.

Yeah, if this decision doesn't destroy the country, we must be indestructible. Amazing overreaction, even for you.

[AURaptor 1,126]

Some judges won't be content until this country is utterly destroyed. This is the most absurd 'ruling' I've heard in some time.

Yeah, if this decision doesn't destroy the country, we must be indestructible. Amazing overreaction, even for you.

You're probably still applauding the ruling to force drive through ATMs to have brail on their keypads.

Stevie Wonder still thanks the courts for that one!

[TexasTiger 13,017]

Some judges won't be content until this country is utterly destroyed. This is the most absurd 'ruling' I've heard in some time.

Yeah, if this decision doesn't destroy the country, we must be indestructible. Amazing overreaction, even for you.

You're probably still applauding the ruling to force drive through ATMs to have brail on their keypads.

Stevie Wonder still thanks the courts for that one!

I'm amazed the nation survived it. I can tell it sent you into therapy.

[AURaptor 1,126]

Some judges won't be content until this country is utterly destroyed. This is the most absurd 'ruling' I've heard in some time.

Yeah, if this decision doesn't destroy the country, we must be indestructible. Amazing overreaction, even for you.

You're probably still applauding the ruling to force drive through ATMs to have brail on their keypads.

Stevie Wonder still thanks the courts for that one!

I'm amazed the nation survived it. I can tell it sent you into therapy.

Some would say the nation hasn't survived, and we're simply too distracted to notice.

[otterinbham 0]

The government discriminates against blind people by printing money that all looks and feels the same, a federal judge said Tuesday in a ruling that could change the face of American currency.

U.S. District Judge James Robertson ordered the Treasury Department to come up with ways for the blind to tell bills apart. He said he wouldn't tell officials how to fix the problem, but he ordered them to begin working on it.

The American Council of the Blind has proposed several options, including printing bills of differing sizes, adding embossed dots or foil to the paper or using raised ink.

"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," Robertson wrote. "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."

Government attorneys argued that forcing the Treasury Department to change the size of the bills or add texture would make it harder to prevent counterfeiting. Robertson was not swayed.

"The fact that each of these features is currently used in other currencies suggests that, at least on the face of things, such accommodations are reasonable," he wrote.

He said the government was violating the Rehabilitation Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in government programs. The opinion came after a four-year legal fight.

Electronic devices are available to help blind people differentiate between bills, but many complain that they are slow, expensive and unreliable. Visually impaired shoppers frequently rely on store clerks to help them.

"It's just frankly unfair that blind people should have to rely on the good faith of people they have never met in knowing whether they've been given the correct change," said Jeffrey A. Lovitky, attorney for the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

Others have developed ways to cope with the similarly shaped bills. Melanie Brunson, a member of the American Council of the Blind, told the court that she folds her bills into different shapes: $1 bills stay straight, $5 bills are folded in half left to right, $10 bills in half top to bottom and $20 in quarters.

The Treasury Department had no comment on the ruling Tuesday. The government has 10 days to decide whether to appeal.

U.S. bills have not always been the same size. In 1929, the government standardized the size and shrank all bills by about 30 percent to lower manufacturing costs and help distinguish between genuine and counterfeit notes.

Since then, the Treasury Department has worked to stay ahead of counterfeiters. Security threads and microprinting were introduced in The portraits were enlarged in 1996, and an infrared feature was added to encourage the development of electronic readers for the blind.

The latest redesign is under way. New $10 bills, featuring splashes of orange, yellow and red, hit the market this year, following similar changes to the $20 bill in 2003 and the $50 bill in 2004. The $5 facelift is due in 2008.

In court documents, government attorneys said changing the way money feels would be expensive. Cost estimates ranged from $75 million in equipment upgrades and $9 million annual expenses for punching holes in bills to $178 million in one-time charges and $50 million annual expenses for printing bills of varying sizes.

Any change to the dollar's design could ripple into the vending machine industry, which participated in discussions regarding previous redesigns. The American Council of the Blind is not seeking changes to the $1 bill, according to court documents.

The Treasury Department spent $4.2 billion on printing over the past decade, Robertson said. Adding a raised number to the bills would have increased costs less than 5 percent over that period, he said.

"If additional savings could be gained by incorporating the new feature into a larger redesign, such as those that took place in 1996 or 2004, the total burden of adding such a feature would be even smaller," Robertson wrote.

You might feel differently if you were blind. Hopefully, that doesn't need to happen to you to make you appreciate the challenges the blind face.

Hey, I never said life was fair. But rejiggering every ATM, vending machine, bill counter, and cash register in the country in order to accommodate one very small percentage of the country is insane. Elevators? Sure. Accommodating service animals? Not a problem. But a massive retooling of every single money-handling device in the country? No.

[TexasTiger 13,017]

Some judges won't be content until this country is utterly destroyed. This is the most absurd 'ruling' I've heard in some time.

Yeah, if this decision doesn't destroy the country, we must be indestructible. Amazing overreaction, even for you.

You're probably still applauding the ruling to force drive through ATMs to have brail on their keypads.

Stevie Wonder still thanks the courts for that one!

I'm amazed the nation survived it. I can tell it sent you into therapy.

Some would say the nation hasn't survived, and we're simply too distracted to notice.

Yeah, but those folks are mostly in mental institutions.

[TexasTiger 13,017]

The government discriminates against blind people by printing money that all looks and feels the same, a federal judge said Tuesday in a ruling that could change the face of American currency.

U.S. District Judge James Robertson ordered the Treasury Department to come up with ways for the blind to tell bills apart. He said he wouldn't tell officials how to fix the problem, but he ordered them to begin working on it.

The American Council of the Blind has proposed several options, including printing bills of differing sizes, adding embossed dots or foil to the paper or using raised ink.

"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," Robertson wrote. "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."

Government attorneys argued that forcing the Treasury Department to change the size of the bills or add texture would make it harder to prevent counterfeiting. Robertson was not swayed.

"The fact that each of these features is currently used in other currencies suggests that, at least on the face of things, such accommodations are reasonable," he wrote.

He said the government was violating the Rehabilitation Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in government programs. The opinion came after a four-year legal fight.

Electronic devices are available to help blind people differentiate between bills, but many complain that they are slow, expensive and unreliable. Visually impaired shoppers frequently rely on store clerks to help them.

"It's just frankly unfair that blind people should have to rely on the good faith of people they have never met in knowing whether they've been given the correct change," said Jeffrey A. Lovitky, attorney for the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

Others have developed ways to cope with the similarly shaped bills. Melanie Brunson, a member of the American Council of the Blind, told the court that she folds her bills into different shapes: $1 bills stay straight, $5 bills are folded in half left to right, $10 bills in half top to bottom and $20 in quarters.

The Treasury Department had no comment on the ruling Tuesday. The government has 10 days to decide whether to appeal.

U.S. bills have not always been the same size. In 1929, the government standardized the size and shrank all bills by about 30 percent to lower manufacturing costs and help distinguish between genuine and counterfeit notes.

Since then, the Treasury Department has worked to stay ahead of counterfeiters. Security threads and microprinting were introduced in The portraits were enlarged in 1996, and an infrared feature was added to encourage the development of electronic readers for the blind.

The latest redesign is under way. New $10 bills, featuring splashes of orange, yellow and red, hit the market this year, following similar changes to the $20 bill in 2003 and the $50 bill in 2004. The $5 facelift is due in 2008.

In court documents, government attorneys said changing the way money feels would be expensive. Cost estimates ranged from $75 million in equipment upgrades and $9 million annual expenses for punching holes in bills to $178 million in one-time charges and $50 million annual expenses for printing bills of varying sizes.

Any change to the dollar's design could ripple into the vending machine industry, which participated in discussions regarding previous redesigns. The American Council of the Blind is not seeking changes to the $1 bill, according to court documents.

The Treasury Department spent $4.2 billion on printing over the past decade, Robertson said. Adding a raised number to the bills would have increased costs less than 5 percent over that period, he said.

"If additional savings could be gained by incorporating the new feature into a larger redesign, such as those that took place in 1996 or 2004, the total burden of adding such a feature would be even smaller," Robertson wrote.

You might feel differently if you were blind. Hopefully, that doesn't need to happen to you to make you appreciate the challenges the blind face.

Hey, I never said life was fair. But rejiggering every ATM, vending machine, bill counter, and cash register in the country in order to accommodate one very small percentage of the country is insane. Elevators? Sure. Accommodating service animals? Not a problem. But a massive retooling of every single money-handling device in the country? No.

What denominations do most vending machines take? Cash registers wouldn't need to change as long as 1, 5, 10, and 20s aren't made bigger than they currently are. It's actually a great time to move to one dollar coins. Dollar bills wear out fast and are too costly.

[AURaptor 1,126]

Yeah, but those folks are mostly in mental institutions

And you're the one praising court mandated rulings like different sized money and brail keypads for drive through ATMs....... who are the crazy folk again?

[TexasTiger 13,017]

Yeah, but those folks are mostly in mental institutions

And you're the one praising court mandated rulings like different sized money and brail keypads for drive through ATMs....... who are the crazy folk again?

Pointing out the absurdity of your doomsday assessment of those decisions doesn't necessarily translate into praising those decisions. I didn't post them, just responding to those of you who think its a tragedy.

[AURaptor 1,126]

Yeah, but those folks are mostly in mental institutions

And you're the one praising court mandated rulings like different sized money and brail keypads for drive through ATMs....... who are the crazy folk again?

Pointing out the absurdity of your doomsday assessment of those decisions doesn't necessarily translate into praising those decisions. I didn't post them, just responding to those of you who think its a tragedy.

It's the very definition of tragic. How you don't see that, is a mystery.

[TexasTiger 13,017]

Yeah, but those folks are mostly in mental institutions

And you're the one praising court mandated rulings like different sized money and brail keypads for drive through ATMs....... who are the crazy folk again?

Pointing out the absurdity of your doomsday assessment of those decisions doesn't necessarily translate into praising those decisions. I didn't post them, just responding to those of you who think its a tragedy.

It's the very definition of tragic. How you don't see that, is a mystery.

You have an interesting definition of "tragedy".

"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," Robertson wrote. "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."

[AURaptor 1,126]

U.S. District Judge James Robertson ordered the Treasury Department to come up with ways for the blind to tell bills apart. He said he wouldn't tell officials how to fix the problem, but he ordered them to begin working on it.

Essentially mandating from the bench that the US Gov't spend MORE $$ on fixing a problem which isn't a problem. A tragic miscarriage of his duties from the bench.

[Tiger in Spain 0]

:..... :. ....:::: .....::::: .... .. .: :::!

First of all, why is a judge mandating this?

I guess since our money is in English, we're soon going to have to make it multi-linugal, too. Gosh knows we wouldn't want a mexican coke dealer to not be able to tell our currency apart.

I have a better solution for the Treasury Department:

Spray Britney's perfume on the $1's (cheap and fitting - stripper friendly, too)

Rub garlic on the $5's

Soak the tens in beer (about the cost of a good six pack)

Make the smell more pleasant as the denomination increases

Actually, there are several handheld products already available, such as the Note Teller2, that the blind can use to identify currency. One drawback is the cost ($295.00 in the case of the Note Teller2), but it seems these could be provided or have the price subsidized a lot easier than retooling our entire currency system.

[channonc 466]

I am baffled to why this is such a polarizing decision. Seems to me, if I were blind, not being able to tell my bills apart in my wallet is one more thing that keeps me from not being dependent on others.

I think there should be a better way for the blind to be able to tell currency apart-- I am not sure that making the bills different sizes is necessarily the answer, but changes toward the goal of accommodating those who have disabilities.

[Tiger in Spain 0]

I am trying to figure out what blind people have been doing up until now. Is this a recently occurring problem? I'm sorry, I just dont see this being that big of an issue.

I'm not picking on the blind here. You have to look at the consequences of this ruling. Who and what is next?

[TitanTiger 20,510]

I am baffled to why this is such a polarizing decision. Seems to me, if I were blind, not being able to tell my bills apart in my wallet is one more thing that keeps me from not being dependent on others.

I think there should be a better way for the blind to be able to tell currency apart-- I am not sure that making the bills different sizes is necessarily the answer, but changes toward the goal of accommodating those who have disabilities.

I have to admit, I don't understand why it's such a big deal either. In fact, I'm shocked something hasn't been done sooner. Some simple raised inks or braille seem perfectly reasonable to me.

As to some of the questions:

Different colors help because not everyone that's visually impaired or legally blind is totally blind. Some see light and colors but everything is so hazy and blurry, they can't read a large print book right in front of their nose. But they can hold a bill out and distinguish colors.

As to what blind people have done up to now...the article alluded to a couple of examples. Some end up having to go shopping with a trusted friend or relative who can help them with money. Others have to rely on the honesty and kindness of strangers at the checkout to tell them what bill they are holding. Others have improvised systems where they leave, say, ones unfolded, fives folded in half, tens folded in thirds and twenties folded in fourths to distinguish by size and thickness.

These folks have enough challenges trying to live lives as self-sufficient as they can without someone that's rather simple to fix being such a problem. The only thing I wouldn't support is different size money because it makes it messy to keep in a wallet and so on. But colors, raised inks or embossing or braille seems completely fair to me.

[CCTAU 3,345]

Metal coins instead of dollar bills is an idiotic solution. Just visit the UK. The 1 pound coins are annoying as hell. The people there miss the 1 pound notes.

Putting any kind of raised feature on the bills would not affect your wallet, but it would seriously hamper the machines already in place. People have issues in life every day and they learn to work around this. The blind have been working around this one for many years. What's next, electronic TP to tell them when their ass is clean. As a country, you can only afford to plan for the rule, not every exception.

[TitanTiger 20,510]

Putting any kind of raised feature on the bills would not affect your wallet, but it would seriously hamper the machines already in place. People have issues in life every day and they learn to work around this. The blind have been working around this one for many years. What's next, electronic TP to tell them when their ass is clean. As a country, you can only afford to plan for the rule, not every exception.

It's hardly a terrible inconvenience for us to program some machines. They've had to do it before when certain details of the bills changed. We're not planning for every exception, just some reasonable ones and this falls into that category. No one's asking for talking money (or TP for that matter) and if some of you could get your minds out of reactionary autopilot you'd see that.

[CCTAU 3,345]

Putting any kind of raised feature on the bills would not affect your wallet, but it would seriously hamper the machines already in place. People have issues in life every day and they learn to work around this. The blind have been working around this one for many years. What's next, electronic TP to tell them when their ass is clean. As a country, you can only afford to plan for the rule, not every exception.

It's hardly a terrible inconvenience for us to program some machines. They've had to do it before when certain details of the bills changed. We're not planning for every exception, just some reasonable ones and this falls into that category. No one's asking for talking money (or TP for that matter) and if some of you could get your minds out of reactionary autopilot you'd see that.

It is not just a programming change. The changes already made were in a graphic nature, not a topographic nature. The mechanics of the dispensing machines would have to change. Do you realize how many machines are out there?

[TitanTiger 20,510]

Putting any kind of raised feature on the bills would not affect your wallet, but it would seriously hamper the machines already in place. People have issues in life every day and they learn to work around this. The blind have been working around this one for many years. What's next, electronic TP to tell them when their ass is clean. As a country, you can only afford to plan for the rule, not every exception.

It's hardly a terrible inconvenience for us to program some machines. They've had to do it before when certain details of the bills changed. We're not planning for every exception, just some reasonable ones and this falls into that category. No one's asking for talking money (or TP for that matter) and if some of you could get your minds out of reactionary autopilot you'd see that.

It is not just a programming change. The changes already made were in a graphic nature, not a topographic nature. The mechanics of the dispensing machines would have to change. Do you realize how many machines are out there?

I realize it's a lot of them. And it could be phased in over time. It's not like the money is going to be rolling off the line tomorrow. It's still a reasonable accommodation and a relatively minor inconvenience if given a decent timeframe for the changes.

While I don't wish blindness on anyone here, I'd love to see some of you railing against this like it's PC run amok put yourself in their shoes. Trying your best to be as independent as possible so you don't have to beg and be a burden to others all the time. Then you ask for a couple of simple changes that numerous other countries have managed to do and be just fine with that would help you not get ripped off or have to painstakingly fold your money this way or that (with help of course) and people act like you're some liberal sap asking for a handout.

[bigsixfive 328]

There's this great little thing called a "check card" that could get the nation through this impending crisis. They have raised numbers on them, so the blind people could distinguish it from a credit card. The cards are usually multi colored, which assists the severly visually impared. They don't have to deal with paper currency at all, a single, reusable card pays for everything.