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Showing posts from December, 2009

A Possible Solution to Discriminatory Currency

I was at a drive through ATM this evening. Waiting for the transaction to finish processing, I read this sign posted under the screen (next to a jack for standard headphones or earbuds): AUDITORY ASSISTANCE AVAILABLE FOR THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED The first thing that went through my mind when I read that was, "Why would a blind person use a drive through ATM?" Next, I thought about how U.S. currency discriminates against the blind and visually impaired. I remember reading several articles over the last few years about the new anti-counterfeiting measures they added to the redesigned currency: color changing ink, watermarks, microprinting, and the little magnetic strips that have the bill's denomination written on it. In these articles I remembered how some people still have issues with the currency because every bill in circulation is exactly the same size. Other countries, I believe, have different sized bills so you can tell them apart without looking at them. Euros come in