The Unreadable US Dollar

As a Canadian, I am very fortunate to be able to decipher our dollar notes. We use coins for one-dollar and two-dollar bills. Known as the Loonie and Twoonie respectively, they feel different to the touch and are different in size as well. Our notes are gaily displayed in different colors, and for those of us who have difficulty seeing the colors there is a bank note reader that has been developed to take care of that problem.

When I was able to see the colors of the notes, it was not a problem for me, but for the last five years I have had to depend on this wonderful little gadget to help me. The Bank Note Reader was developed by the bank of Canada and it emits audible messages in both official languages of Canada; English and French. In addition, it caters to those persons who are deaf/blind by emitting certain distinguishable vibrations to the deaf/blind person.

I recently received an email from someone living in Australia telling me how accessible their currency is. He told me that their currency notes are distinguishable through their size. Each note is of a different size.

For the US greenback however, it is not quite the same. All notes are of the same color and size and this makes it very difficult for blind and visually-impaired Americans to be able to decipher them. There have been attempts and efforts over the past years to legislate for changes so that the greenback could become more readable and accessible to Americans with vision problems.

On a recent visit to Los Angeles, I ran into this problem and had to depend on my sighted friend to help me decipher the US dollar. I felt very uncomfortable; not being able to decipher my own currency drove home the problem that blind and visually-impaired Americans face on a daily basis. I am sure that most mainstream Americans have never really given thought to this problem, but a problem it is and thanks to the National Federation for the Blind, this may soon change.

The NFB as they are often referred to is lobbying strenuously to have Congress pass legislation that would somehow change the greenback in appearance so that it could become more readable to blind and visually-impaired Americans. You can read more about the efforts of the NFB by visiting http://www.nfb.org.

I'm Donna J. Jodhan your accessibility and special-needs business consultant wishing you a terrific day and urging you to go out there and help the NFB to lobby for a more readable and accessible greenback.