A federal court has ruled that US currency in its current form unfairly excludes blind Americans from participating in the economy. Really, how hard was this to fix?
http://money.cnn.com/...
When I read this I immediately thought of a blind man who sold magazines in my father's office building. He had to rely on an honor system because he couldn't distinguish between bills. Usually basic human decency combined with the watchful eyes of other patrons was enough to keep people honest, but he said that there were always a few crooks that he wouldn't discover until the end of the day. Anyone who watched Ray will also remember the powerful scene in which Ray Charles learns to only accept $1 bills as payment.
My question is, why couldn't this have been done before? How hard is it to punch tiny holes in the corner, create raised bumps, make some bills longer than others? Here is yet another case in which the two popularly elected branches of government have excluded a minority group from the benefits that the majority take for granted. What would we do without judicial activism?
Also, I was curious. Does anyone know whether other countries deliberately configure their currencies to accomodate the seeing impaired?