Dear Member of Congress:
I am writing on behalf of the American Council of the Blind (ACB), one of the leading national organizations of people who are blind and visually impaired. Consisting of tens of thousands of members and more than seventy affiliates across the United States, ACB is dedicated to improving the quality of life, equality of opportunity and independence of all people who have visual impairments.
We ask you support the addition of tactile features and increased color contrast to U.S. banknotes in future currency redesigns. This change would benefit many of your constituents: those who are blind or visually impaired, those whose vision is deteriorating because of age-related complications, those with cognitive disabilities and even non-disabled individuals in low light situations.
People who are blind or have low vision currently have no way to independently distinguish between the denominations of U.S. paper currency because all of the denominations are identical in size and texture. This means that blind and visually impaired people must always rely on a sighted person or an electronic bill-reading device to tell them which bills are which when they receive change or obtain bills of different denominations from an ATM machine.
To address this problem, members of Congress have repeatedly called on the Treasury Department to include tactile features on U.S. paper currency to make it accessible to blind and visually impaired people. As early as 1979, a bill (H.R.6027, 96th Cong.) was introduced that would have required currency “to be printed in a manner which enables an individual who is blind to determine the denomination of each such note.” In the 105th Congress, a resolution (H.Res.122) sponsored by Rep. Baker of Louisiana stated that “electronic means of bill identification will always be more fallible than purely tactile means” and that the House of Representatives therefore “strongly encourages the Secretary of the Treasury and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to incorporate cost-effective, tactile features into the [upcoming currency] design changes.” It passed the House by voice vote on November 8, 1997.
In the ten years since the House made this statement of support, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing has failed to incorporate any tactile features into its multiple redesigns of U.S. banknotes and has stated no intention of doing so in the future. As a result, ACB filed suit against the Secretary of the Treasury in 2002. In a November 28, 2006 opinion in this litigation (Civil Action No. 02-864), federal district court judge James Robertson stated that the Treasury is denying blind people “meaningful access” to U.S. currency by printing bills that they cannot identify without assistance. The Treasury Department has appealed the ruling.
ACB asks you to continue the tradition of Congressional support for equal and independent access to currency for all people and encourages you to write a letter supporting the inclusion of tactile features and increased color contrast in future designs of U.S. banknotes.