Tactile marks on currencies This post is primarily created to help blind people who travel to a different country and would like a quick reference on how to recognize the local currencies. There is of course currency recognition apps which one can use, here I will only concentrate on currencies, which do have tactile features. …
Category Archives: Currency
We will send people to Mars before the US will have tactile currency
According to Coin World, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing confirmed that we will have a tactile $10 bill by 2026. The initiative is not new, the first research to print tactile Dollar bills started in the 1990’s. But let’s look at what this really means.
New trend in tactile currencies
Among the most recent tactile currency markings, a new trend is emerging: indicating the value using dot patterns. The idea is not new, it has been used in Canadda since 2004, but for some reason most recently it has been picked up by other countries.
Lawsuit to make the new Brazilian 200 Reais accessible
The Brazilian National Association of the Blind, Organização Nacional de Cegos do Brasil, with other organizations is suing for the removal of the new 200 Reais bank note, because it is not sufficiently accessible for the visually impaired. In short, the new 200 Reais bank note is exactly the same size as the 20 Reais …
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Will electronic payments solve the accessible currency problem?
I often hear the argument that electronic payments can ultimately replace currency in which case it won’t matter if bank notes are accessible for disabled people. There is certainly some truth to it, but it is much more complex. Let’s see if electronic payments will solve the need for accessible currency.
The Reserve Bank of India makes available a new Indian currency identification app
On January 1, 2020 the Reserve Bank of India issued a press release in which they announced the launch of their currency identification app. The app is called MANI, Mobile Aided Note Identifier. It is available on iOS and Android operating systems. Below you can read my review of the app, and at the end …
Accessible currency in 2019
It seems that we have heard more about accessible currency this year than in any year before. If we read the news carefully, there is announcement almost every month somewhere about making currency more accessible, or maintaining the commitment. I will give a brief overview of what happened this year. As I explained in an …
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.
Will the currency of India be usable for the visually impaired?
In recent news, we can read that the Reserve Bank of India is soliciting bids from companies to create a mobile app to identify currency to help visually impaired people. Unfortunately, as in most cases, bits and pieces of the news is picked up by online resources, and it is hard to trace it back …
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Braille on money
It is not rare to find braille on money. Some coins and paper currencies contain braille writing. Braille is more often associated with paper money, but there are a few examples of braille on coins. There are two primary reasons to put braille on money: to bring awareness to people with visual impairment, or to …