MORE ON BANKNOTES FOR THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED

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V17 2014 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 17, Number 23, June 1, 2014, Article 25

MORE ON BANKNOTES FOR THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED

Kavan Ratnatunga submitted these thoughts on banknotes for the visually impaired. Thanks. -Editor

I got interested in the statement that

"Of the 180 countries that issue banknotes, only 23 use tactile markings such as raised dots, grooves or symbols"

I found an old 1995 document on "Currency Features for Visually Impaired People". which listed in Appendix D table D-1 (pages 106-112) the names of 16 countries in 171 listed. Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, England, Israel, Namibia, Netherlands Antilles, South Africa, Switzerland, Uruguay and 7 countries which had on some denominations Colombia, Cyprus, Germany, Malaysia, Morocco, Netherlands, Peru.

That Totals exactly 23 in 1994 but Belgium, Netherlands and Germany now use a common Euro currency on which I did not see tactile features. So that leaves 20. Sri Lanka currency got such dots in an issue dated 2010 and I wondering what are the other 2 progressive countries over 20 years, or are there more.

To read the complete article, see: Currency Features for Visually Impaired People (www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=4828&page=R1)

I also found this blog entry by a graphic designer:

Over the weekend I was reading a review copy of Eric Karjaluoto’s new book, The Design Method. There’s a page where he mentions how Canadian banknotes are printed with a tactile feature in the corner so the visually impaired can easily tell what denomination they’re holding.

The article linked to an applet from www.looktel.com .

See these YouTube videos:
LookTel Money Reader iPhone app - real time object recognition (/www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvfDnGMPrkI)
LookTel Money Reader 2.0 iPhone app (www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HMVXEZNeNM)

But I really liked the comment, "why would a blind person use a touchscreen phone?" which justifies existence of Smart Phones which are NOT touchscreen, for the Blind and persons like me, who don't like touchscreens.

To read the complete article, see: Banknotes for the visually impaired (www.davidairey.com/banknotes-for-the-visually-impaired/)

So.. can anyone tell us which countries incorporate features for the blind on their banknotes today? -Editor

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: CAMPAIGN FOR TACTILE AUSTRALIAN BANKNOTES (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v17n22a23.html)

Wayne Homren, Editor

The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.

To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com

To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum

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