U.S. District Judge James Roberton ruled yesterday that the federal government discriminates against the visually challenged by printing paper money that is uniform in feeling, size, etc. and thereby violates the Rehabilitation Act which bars bias on the basis of disability. He mandated that the U.S. Treasury implement a way for the blind to distinguish between the denominations of bills. (Formerly, these currency certificates were not uniform but were made so in 1929 in an attempt to lower costs and discourage counterfeiting.) Judge Robertson noted that of the 180 countries that print paper currency only the U.S. makes no distinction in size or color: he added that over 100 vary the size of the bills of differing value and that every other national issuer has some method for the visually impaired to recognize the value of a bill. The government has ten days from the judgment to appeal.
Cf. http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/11/28/D8LMC4600.html.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Unless the government wins on appeal, my days of charging my blind customers $20.00 for a hot dog and a Coke are rapidly drawing to an end.
C'mon, U.S. government!
I know that you're jesting but the visually challenged do indeed have to depend on the honesty of unknown vendors to provide them with the proper change. Hopefully, the government won't challenge the decision and make the needed alterations to the bills to make life a little less taxing for the blind.
Post a Comment