[nabs-l] should the blind adapt to the world, or should the world adapt to us?

[Jess]

Joseph,
>From what I understand the Treasury Department wasn't planning on changing 
the one dollar bill because then all vending machines would have to be 
replaced . I believe that the currency is still being worked on although I 
haven't recently heard an update from ACB in quite some time.
Jessica
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "T. Joseph Carter" <carter.tjoseph at gmail.com>
To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list" 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, June 22, 2009 12:49 AM
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] should the blind adapt to the world,or should the 
world adapt to us?


> Alena,
>
> I promise at these two intersections, it IS loud enough in the right 
> conditions.  The block is really short, less than 100 yards, and there's a 
> tall building that the sound bounces off of.  When the wind is right, it 
> sounds like the sound's in a different spot than it is, and it's got 
> enough volume to be confused easily.
>
> I actually tried to come up with a way to change all bills but the dollar, 
> and I couldn't find a good way to do it.  Neither the ACB nor the NFB nor 
> the Treasury Department came up with a good way to do it either, but all 
> of them concluded that changes should be made to all but the dollar.
>
> I say change the dollar, but change it last.  Produce the $100 bill first 
> at the current size (or a fraction longer), and decrease the length of the 
> bills from there.  This allows current cash registers to be used, but 
> causes money handling machines to need to be changed.  That's acceptable, 
> provided that times and tax breaks equating the cost of retrofitting over 
> time are provided to offset the cost to the private sector.  The $20 and 
> $1 should be last, since the $20 affects the majority of ATMs and the $1 
> affects vending machines.
>
> Option #2 is to stop printing the $1 bill.  The $1 coin would be much 
> easier for vending machines to support, and some already do.
>
> Ultimately, we don't know what the Treasury Department will ultimately do. 
> Right now they're considering options, including electronic bill 
> identifiers.  I think a barcode printed to be read with a specific 
> wavelength of light makes the most sense for this, but again it's a change 
> to the currency.  Granted, it's a change that makes readers cost like $30, 
> but it's still a change.  It also helps deter counterfeiters and gives the 
> blind a way to detect a counterfeit bill other than by it not feeling 
> right (the most common means of detecting a forgery today..)
>
> This one's a settled issue in my mind.  The ACB won, and I'm not sorry 
> they did.  I think they took one hell of a risk in our name to do it. 
> That's water under the bridge.  We continued to fight against the ACB on 
> this one beyond a point where our efforts could only cause what we most 
> feared, in my opinion.  But that too is water under the bridge.  Taxpayers 
> are going to foot the bill for this one, and that is settled.  Our job now 
> is to make sure they get what they're paying for, in my opinion.
>
> Joseph
>
>
> On Sun, Jun 21, 2009 at 07:30:38PM -0700, alena roberts wrote:
>>I want to respond to a couple of things. I think we're really off
>>topic from where we started with, but that's okay. I think that
>>conversation is what I wanted, and all of you have given that to me.
>>
>>I have never crossed because I heard an audible signal a block away.
>>My hearing knows that the sound isn't loud enough, so I ignore it, I
>>also always listen to my traffic and the audible signal. I agree with
>>Len that the quiter signals that talk to you are better than the
>>chirpers, but in my opinion having something is better than nothing.
>>Before I moved to Corvallis, I had to cross at inersections that were
>>unsafe for me because they wre hard to read. In those cases, audible
>>signals would have been very helpful.
>>
>>As far as the currency goes, I don't think it matters how many
>>american dollars are made vs. some other countries currency. There are
>>ways to transform the bills without using tactile markings, and if the
>>$1 wasn't changed, most vending machines wouldn't have to be changed.
>>Money management is such a vital skill in my opinion, and I think that
>>I should have the right to use cash if I want to. I choose not to
>>because I can't distinguish it on my own, I don't have an expensive
>>machine that will tell me what denomination I have, and I am trusting
>>sighted people to be honest with me.
>>
>>Those are just some thoughts.
>>
>>-- 
>>Alena Roberts
>>Blog: http://www.blindgal.com/
>>
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