It's Our Money Too!  

Debunking Myths

Myth No. 1: Creating paper currency that can be distinguished by touch will cost too much.

• According to the government's own estimates--as referenced in Judge Robertson's opinion--the cost of adding a tactile feature to U.S. paper currency is projected to be less than five percent of the over all annual cost of producing paper currency.
• The government's estimates are grossly inflated because the American Council of the Blind is not advocating that any tactile features be added to the one-dollar bill. Not changing the one-dollar bill would subtract millions of dollars from the government's projected cost because the one-dollar bill accounts for approximately half of all bills printed by the Treasury Department.
• The government's cost estimates also assume that tactile features will be added separately from any scheduled redesigns of the currency, whereas Judge Robertson has suggested that significant cost savings could be realized if these changes were incorporated into larger redesign processes for each denomination, which the Treasury Department has said will occur every five to eight years anyway to keep ahead of counterfeiters.

Myth No. 2: Adding tactile features to paper currency will make it easier to counterfeit.

• Adding an additional feature to paper currency will make counterfeiting more difficult, because the newly added tactile features will be something else that must be replicated by counterfeiters.
• Adding a tactile feature would not have to result in the removal of any anti-counterfeiting features that are already part of the currency.
• The European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank consider the tactile features on euros and Swiss banknotes to be security features as well because they are so difficult for counterfeiters to copy.
• One reason why the Bureau of Engraving and Printing has recently redesigned the five-dollar bill is that counterfeiters have been able to bleach it and then overprint it to resemble a hundred-dollar bill (see Why has the U.S. government decided to change the $5 note on the website of the Bureau of Printing and Engraving); such techniques would not be possible if the five-dollar bill and the hundred-dollar bill were different sizes or if they contained distinct tactile features.

Myth No. 3: Adding tactile features to paper currency will cost American business millions of dollars in changes to vending machines and other cash handling devices.

• Almost all vending machines only accept one-dollar bills. The American Council of the Blind has made clear in its own court documents that it is not advocating adding a tactile feature to one-dollar bills.
• Many of the ATMs used in countries that have tactilely discernable paper currency are made in America.

Myth No. 4: Blind people already have ways to distinguish their paper currency.

• Blind people cannot distinguish between denominations of paper currency when they initially acquire it without the assistance of a sighted person or an electronic bill-reading machine. Once blind people are told what denomination each of their bills is, they can then use folding systems to organize their paper currency.

Myth No. 5: The issue of tactilely discernable currency is a "distraction" from important issues impacting blind people.

• Tactilely discernable paper currency will increase employment opportunities for blind and visually impaired people by affording them greater access to jobs where the handling of cash is an "essential function" of the job.
• Younger blind and visually impaired Americans will have an easier time finding work in the retail sector-an industry where many young people get their first work-related experience.
• Improving blind and visually impaired people's access to a wider variety of jobs is especially important considering the fact that between 55% and 60% of visually impaired people of working age and 70% of working-age people who are legally blind remain unemployed, according to the most recent statistics from the American Foundation for the Blind.

Myth No. 6: There are not enough blind people to justify this expense.

• According to the National Eye Institute, there are roughly 3.3 million blind and visually impaired Americans.
• This number is expected to increase greatly as the Baby Boom population ages.
• Blind people would not be the only ones to benefit from this change. Tactile features on paper currency would benefit sighted people as well, allowing them to handle cash more quickly and accurately.

Myth No. 7: Changing U.S. paper currency would create world-wide problems, because of how widely the dollar is circulated.

• Euros are used in many countries and they can be distinguished through the size of the bills or the tactile numerals and embossed foil features that have been affixed to the different denominations.

Myth No. 8: Adding tactile features to paper currency will be a burden on the rest of society.

• In the countries where accessible paper money has been introduced, there have not been reports of citizens having difficulty adjusting to the new currency. In fact, most sighted citizens of those countries find tactile features to be quite helpful and miss them when they travel to the USA.
• In addition, tactile features benefit everyone by helping to prevent counterfeiting.

Myth No. 9: No other country has considered the input of blind people when changing its currency.

• When the euro was developed, the European Central Bank acted on requests made by Europe's blind and visually impaired citizens to add tactile features to paper euro denominations.
• The Canadian government engaged in direct consultations with the Canadian Council of the Blind which resulted in tactile features being added to Canadian paper currency.
• Indonesia worked with its blind and visually impaired citizens to make sure that tactile features were added to that nation's paper currency.