High Time That Greenbacks Are More Than Just Green
The National Council for Support of Disability Issues (NCSD) fully supports the plaintiffs in the paper currency case in which they seek to ensure accessibility to a public service and good that is long over due for coming into compliance with civil rights of the visually impaired. A federal judge ruled that the U.S. Department of the Treasury's failure to offer blind people alternatives to paper currency violates the law. See, American Council for the Blind v. Sec'y of the Treasury, (November 28, 2006). NCSD maintains a cross-disability policy, and is a Section 501(c)3 registered non-profit that is headquartered in Northern Virginia. NCSD has decided that it will file an amicus brief in the case, should the Federal Circuit Court of the District of Columbia accept the appealed filed by the United States Department of the Treasury. According to the non-profit's legal chair and spokesperson, Gary C. Norman, Esq., who resides in Baltimore, Maryland, "assuring accessibility to the most basic good and service that the federal government is statutorily required to furnish to the general public, constitutes not only a potential obligation under civil rights statutes, such as the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, but also constitutes good and inclusive policy. NCSD supports the plaintiffs because like them, NCSD is dedicated to an America where all citizens are given equal access and opportunity to all aspects of life, including, but not limited to, fair employment and retention, access to recreation and the ability to independently identify paper currency, that may be required to participate in the market place and in the community." At present, the most popular denominations of paper currency utilized by the public include; $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100 bills. The bills range in size, and in recent years have included different types of coloring to assist in preventing against counterfeiting. However, the paper currency, as indicated in the ruling of the court, does not have accessibility features. According to Jason Perry, CEO and President of NCSD and Gary C. Norman, Esq., " technology exists to assist the blind to identify paper currency, but for the average visually impaired person, this is cost prohibitive. This technology may range in the hundreds of dollars. Most visually impaired people utilize techniques to identify the bills, such as folding, or having another person read the bills to them, to identify the denomination. With the folding technique, it is easy to have paper currency misfiled." The court's ruling also determined that many other nations around the world have included accessibility features into paper currency and coinage. "One wonders why an organization that supposedly constitutes the 'voice of the blind' supports the institutionalization of discrimination of the U.S. Department of Treasury, especially when that organization has worked to enact a bill that will authorize the federal government's U.S. Mint to produce coins with Braille, the proceeds of which will be distributed to said organization." On the brief as assistants are Jason Perry, a graduate of The Ohio State University Law School, and third year law students, Joshua Friedman, University of Maryland School of Law, and Hayley Rohn, Wayne State University Law School. All three will be sitting for their respective bar examinations next Summer.
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