As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, at least one U.S. court has said that our currency needs to be made more accessible. Since that time things have heated up a bit.
The treasury department has appealed the court decision largely on what the treasury department sees as the cost of making currency accessible.
But in their petition to the appeals court, government lawyers argued that varying the size of denominations could cause significant burdens on the vending machine industry and cost the Bureau of Engraving and Printing an initial investment of $178 million and $37 million to $50 million in new printing plates.
The American Council of the Blind (ACB) who filed the original legal action has vowed to continue the fight.
The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) has sided with the government in the appeal of the court ruling on accessible currency. The NFB’s position is outlined in an editorial that ran in the New York Times.
NPR ran a story featuring both sides of the debate.
Finally there’s now an online petition directed to the U.S. congress in support of accessible currency. As of this writing the petition has close to 1800 signatures, mine included.
Hi Kelly. I just stumbled upon a link to your post concerning MSWord 2007, and I’m eager to try out this version. I decided to look over the rest of your blog, and came across your post on the accessible currency issue. As someone who is unemployed and has been for a very long time, I felt the need to comment. I signed the petition too, and I cannot for the life of me understand the thinking of those who say making our country’s paper money accessible would raise our unemployment rate. It would, in fact, open up many opportunities such as vending for people like myself who are unemployed. It needs to get done.