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V11 2008 INDEX
E-SYLUM ARCHIVE
DICK JOHNSON: THE BLIND NEED NEW COINS, NOT SMALL SIZE CURRENCY
Dick Johnson submitted the following thoughts on changes to
U.S. currency. -Editor.
The discussion this week was of possible
changes in American currency to facilitate the blind. Embossing the
denomination in Braille makes sense and we wonder why it has not already
been implemented. Making each paper money denomination a different size
does not make a lot of sense. I read several stories, like the one from Cleveland where they interviewed blind workers at city newsstands, who stated changing the size of our currency was unnecessary. They relied on the honesty of their customers and this has worked very well, thank you.
However, the blind are far more attuned to the diameter and edge surfaces of coins. Their fingers are sensitive enough to discriminate cents from dimes, and nickels from quarters -- because of the edge reeding on high denominations -- but also rely on diameter to tell coin differences apart.
The United States should consider issuing circulating coins in one, five and ten dollar denominations, each with succeeding larger size whether or not the same paper denominations are eliminated. This would facilitate a large percentage of the cash transactions of the blind. To read the complete article, see: Cleveland blind aren't clamoring for new currency
Wayne Homren, Editor
The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.
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