U.S. court: Dollars discriminate against blind

Redesigned bills could also mean more job opportunities, since employers often hesitate to hire blind workers for jobs handling money, said Charlson, of the Perkins School for the Blind.

“When there are so few things in your life that you’ve got total control over, being able to even take care of your own money is such a big step, without requiring someone to tell you whether you’ve got enough money to go out and get a beer or have a hamburger,” she said.

The government could ask for a rehearing by the full appeals court or challenge the decision to the Supreme Court.

Treasury Department spokeswoman Brookly McLaughlin said the department was reviewing the opinion. She noted that the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, which prints the nation’s currency, recently hired a contractor to consider ways to help the blind. The results will be available early next year, she said.

While the government has been fighting to overturn the lower court ruling, it has been taking some steps toward modifying U.S. currency for the visually impaired. The most recent currency redesign of the $5 bill introduced in March features a giant “5” printed in purple on one side of the bill to help those with vision problems distinguish the bill.

Indeed, Treasury has previously considered making different sizes of bills but ran into opposition from makers of vending and change machines. Government lawyers raised this issue in court, saying it could cost billions to redesign vending machines. But the court said such data are murky, especially since one proposed solution would be to leave $1 bills unchanged.

Given recent U.S. redesigns, the appeals court ruled the U.S. failed to explain why adding more changes would be an undue burden. More than 100 other countries vary the size of their bills, a federal judge said in 2006, and others include at least some features to help the blind. The appeals court said the U.S. never explained why such solutions wouldn’t work here.

Not all blind people agree that U.S. money should be changed. The National Federation of the Blind sided with the government and told the appeals court that no changes were needed.

Charlie Richardson, the legally blind manager of Charlie’s Express Stop inside the Capitol in Albany, N.Y., said he doesn’t oppose changing the money but disagrees with the ruling.

“To actually be discriminated against is to have something denied to you,” Richardson said. “We’re not denied the use of money.”

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