While I am happy that the government is giving some thought to independent
identification of currency by people that are blind, this article shows
what a stereotypic view of people that are blind exists out in the real
world.  What does the income source of people have to do with this
technology and if you ask me $400 to identify money, no matter how much I
make is a lot.  For the writer of this story to say that $400 is a lot of
money for someone living on SSI is ridiculous in my opinion.  Yet this is
how we continually get pictured in the media--helpless people who all
live off the government.

I doubt anyone, blind or not would find $400 an acceptable amount to be
able to identify money.




 WASHINGTON (AP) -- The new $20 bill the Treasury Department is
introducing will include an invisible feature officials hope will lead to the
development of inexpensive, pocket-size, money-reading machines for
the blind.

 Such talking machines exist now, but they're expensive, retailing for
nearly $400 -- a lot of money to a blind person living on Supplemental
Security Income.

 The current generation of bill readers essentially are minicomputers.
They identify bills by recognizing light and dark patterns. Each time the
government redesigns a bill, as it began doing in 1996 with the $100 note,
the machines must be reprogrammed to recognize both the old and new
designs.

 The challenge to researchers at the Treasury Department's Bureau of
Engraving and Printing was to come up with a feature that could be read
by a less expensive machine, wouldn't cost the government a lot to add
to currency, and wouldn't be affected by future redesigns.

 "Once someone had this detector, they wouldn't have to constantly have
them reprogrammed or replaced," said a department official, who spoke
on condition of anonymity.

 He and other officials declined to reveal details of the feature, citing
security concerns. Although it's primarily aimed at bill readers for the
blind, it also could be used by future automatic teller machines and
vending machines.

 A source familiar with the new $20s said a finger-width strip on the back
of the bill will be printed with an ink that seems to disappear when
exposed to infrared light. The strip will be in a different position on each
denomination. Under natural light, it will be impossible to tell the bills are
printed with two green inks.

 "This adds virtually nothing to the cost of currency. It doesn't add
manufacturing steps. It didn't cost money to develop," the Treasury
official said.

 Another advantage is the infrared-sensitive strip won't interfere with
vending and ATM machines relying on existing bill-identification
techniques.

 "We have a huge deployed base of equipment," said Kawika Daguio of
the American Bankers Association. "As long as they don't do anything to
invalidate that base of equipment, we don't mind."

 Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and Federal Reserve Chairman Alan
Greenspan plan to unveil the design of the new $20 at a news
conference on Wednesday. Like the new $100 and $50 before it, the $20
also will be updated with a variety of anti-counterfeiting features.

 Among them: an enlarged, off-center portrait, a watermark in the shape
of the portrait, an embedded polymer security thread that glows under
ultraviolet light and a numeral printed in color-shifting ink.

 Treasury officials plan to include the infrared strip in redesigns planned
for bills with smaller denominations and in subsequent issues of the
redesigned $50 and $100.

 This is the first feature added to American money specifically to help the
nation's 200,000 blind people. Just as the redesigned $50 did, the new
$20 will include an enlarged numeral surrounded by blank space. That's
to assist the 3.5 million Americans with impaired vision.






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