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Will the Dollar Bill Soon Look Different?
Posted by: DeLila Bergan on May 28, 2008
Perhaps more importantly, will our currency soon feel different? The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit recently confirmed a lower court ruling that may require the Treasury Department to redesign our currency to accommodate visually impaired persons. The government had argued that our currency is okay as it is now because the blind have adapted – they rely on assistance from store clerks or others, they fold bills in their wallets to enable them to distinguish a $5 bill from a $10 bill, etc., or they simply use credit cards.
The Court of Appeals faulted the government’s reasoning. The Court said that, using that logic, we would not need to change curbs or entry ways to accommodate wheelchairs. The disabled could rely on help from others or could crawl on all fours. The Court indicated that the U.S. government had failed to convince the Court that changing currency to make it easier for visually impaired persons to use would be unreasonably burdensome for the government, especially since the Treasury Department has redesigned both bills and coins in recent years for other reasons (such as making them more difficult to counterfeit).
Possible changes in U.S. currency could include changes in shape or size or the addition of raised imprints in the bills. Many other countries already have similar systems in place that make it simpler to distinguish one bill from another.
