AUSTRALIA LAUNCHES TACTILE BANKNOTE

Australia's newest banknote goes into circulation on 1 September with a tiny new feature designed to help people who are blind or visually impaired.

The A$5 note has two raised dots on both of its long sides, allowing those who cannot see to identify its value, ABC reports. It's the country's first note to feature the tactile markings, and is being hailed as a major breakthrough. "For the first time in the history of Australian currency it will be possible for someone who is blind or vision-impaired to just pick up a note and know instantly what it is," says Bruce Maguire from the non-profit Vision Australia organisation. He says the change will help 360,000 Australians.

Currently, blind or visually impaired people have to rely on others to identify the note and give the correct change. Some use a measuring instrument - which ABC News notes can be fiddly in a busy shop - or smart phone apps.

The new design follows a petition started in 2012 by teenager Connor McLeod, who is blind from birth, and his mother. It gathered more than 57,000 signatures and is being credited with persuading the Reserve Bank of Australia to make the change. "Now when I grow up, I won't have to rely on trusting that people have always given me the right change," Connor writes on the news.com.au website. "I can feel the markings on the bank notes and tell them if they've given me the wrong change and also think to myself: I did that."

To read the complete article, see:
Australia launches tactile banknote to aid blind people (www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-37231007)

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
CAMPAIGN FOR TACTILE AUSTRALIAN BANKNOTES (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v17n22a23.html)
AUSTRALIA AGREES TO PRODUCE TACTILE BANKNOTES (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v18n08a26.html)

Today, the launch of the new $5 banknote, which has a tactile feature, is a significant outcome for the Australian blindness and low vision community, to which, I belong.

Let me explain. One of the fondest memories from my childhood is playing Monopoly. Sometimes my parents, sisters and I would play the short game which took about an hour and a half. Sometimes, we’d play the long game, which would often stretch into the night.

But as good as my game plans were there was always an extra obstacle I faced, that my competitors did not.

For a blind kid, like me, handling Monopoly money was tricky. Every banknote was the exact same length and width. So, I had to rely on other people — my Monopoly opponents — to help me sort it into piles. If there’s one thing I learnt, it was to never trust a Monopoly opponent with your money.

I once attempted to put braille labels on the Monopoly money. It helped, but there was so much of it that I quickly realised it would take a long time to label them all. Back in the real world, people often ask me why braille isn’t embossed on our banknotes. Although a number of countries have tried this approach, the braille dots squash after a while, and eventually, you can’t feel them at all.

In the last few years, developments in note-printing technology have made it possible to include a tactile feature as part of the structure of the banknotes themselves, rather than being embossed or added to the banknotes later. The tactile feature will last as long as the banknote itself and, importantly, won’t fade over time.

The introduction of the tactile feature is one of the most significant inclusive actions to take place in my life. Having to rely on other people or a device to identify banknotes just isn’t the kind of independence and participation in community life that leads to dignity, equality and inclusion.

To read the complete article, see:
Australia’s new $5 banknote is a breakthrough for the blind (www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/australias-new-5-banknote-a-breakthrough-for-the-blind/news-story/c0fd90029f1c29a0caeb27829e330705)

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web