Finding news about accessible currency

It takes dedication and creativity to find out about the accessibility features of newly released currency. This information is not popular enough to have its own category, or even its own headline. I thought I would share my challenges about finding out what the press releases and news bites really mean.

Let me start by stressing that there is no such place where we can find accessible currency news. The best way to get this information is to monitor news and articles in different publications. Often press releases are not related to accessible currency, rather, around the end a few words hint to accessibility features which can help to understand what to look for in other publications. I often find that any little reliable information in this area has to be compiled from several sources. For example, when a reserve bank mentions that their newly released bank notes will have features for the visually impaired, it could mean many things, and the best way to figure out what it means is to verify and validate this information.

The meaning of visually impaired

First we need to understand what does it mean when press releases talk about visually impaired people. Do they mean people who have some vision and features were introduced for them? This could mean for example larger digits or better contrast. The other option is that in order to be more politically correct, organizations are hesitant to use the word blind, even though it would more accurately describe their target audience. In this case, features are more likely to mean tactile marks, such as bots, shapes, lines, or possibly braille numbers, which can be another discussion on its own, I briefly talked about the use of braille on money in another post. Often the use of terminology can be confusing, usually when the original language of the press release is not English. It is possible that visually impaired is translated using a different expression, such as visually challenged, vision disabled, etc. It is also worth noting that English speaking countries around the world use different expressions for people with disabilities, which can also show up in some of these resources. For example, when I worked in India, I most often heard the expression “differently abled people”. Therefore, when trying to find out about news regarding accessible currency for the visually impaired is not as easy of searching for the right keywords.

Inaccurate information

The other issue I am finding that information is incorrectly communicated, for example recently I read in the Trinidad and Tobago Newsday that Trinidad and Tobago introduced a new 100 Dollar bill which has braille. It turned out that what they meant by braille is a series of dots to help blind people identify their new currency, so the feature itself is much more useful then the description.

Information is not communicated

Another scenario is that information is not communicated about accessible currency at all. For example when newly released banknotes have a large enough size difference, or they use a high contrast between the background and the numerals. It is very likely that these features are not the direct result of trying to make it more accessible, rather, it is a fortunate feature. These features can easily be identified from pictures or from technical specifications of bank notes.

When I can’t find enough information, I usually reach out to the particular issuer bank, the contact person on the press release, etc. I have yet to receive the first response for these questions. My experience so far that mostly personal contacts are helpful, which I don’t necessarily have at any randomly selected bank.

Hands-on verification

Ultimately what’s left is to verify the accessibility features by obtaining a note from circulation. This is sometimes quite time consuming, fortunately bank note dealers, particularly in the country where new currency is issued are quick to obtain a set of uncirculated notes and in a few weeks these notes can be ordered on eBay, sometimes 10-20 times their purchasing value. Once the novelty wears off, these notes can be bought in great condition for slightly more than their value plus postage. Ultimately this is the best method of verification, because press releases, catalogs and pictures can’t communicate accurately the level of usefulness of a new accessible bank note. They feel and compare differently in most cases.

One example was the tactile features of the Costa Rican Colon, which according to Wikipedia, used tactile features modelling the Canadian Dollar. In reality, these feel quite different, even if one can tell from the picture that they have used a different set of dot groups. The currency is very usable by touch, but it is not anything like one would imagine after having touched Canadian bills.

Conclusion

In conclusion, obtaining accessibility information about newly released currency is not necessarily obvious, it takes quite a bit of monitoring the news and creativity to figure out which information can lead to a good find.

As I did in the past, I will be monitoring this space, and will write about the major events in the world of accessible currency.