Subject: | |
From: | |
Reply To: | Raul A. Gallegos |
Date: | Tue, 7 May 2002 13:56:25 -0500 |
Content-Type: | text/plain |
Parts/Attachments: |
|
|
It's not just vending machines. ATM's, coin exchangers, etc. I think our
time can be better put to other things such as better jobs for the blind,
better training for the blind, etc.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dan Rossi" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, May 07, 2002 1:49 PM
Subject: Re: American Council of the Blind seeks changes in U.S. currency
> I just felt like weighing in on this debate.
>
> Currency identification is probably not preventing the majority of blind
> people from participating in life to any significant degree. However,
> that does not mean that we shouldn't work toward revamping our currency
> system. Every other country that I have visited uses money of differing
> sizes and colors. There is no reason why the U.S. couldn't do the same.
>
> As far as it being too expensive to replace the current system, that is
> rubbish. As someone else has already pointed out, the life span of a bill
> is pretty short. There would be a couple of years where both types of
> bills would be in circulation, but probably not even that long. There
> might be some incremental cost in producing new engraving plates but it
> isn't like you are having to replace something that doesn't get replaced
> every day already. The government is printing money constantly. they
> would just shift to producing the new money instead of the old money.
>
> Refitting vending machines would be more of a concern but certainly not
> impossible. I have no idea of what the life expectancy of a vending
> machine might be. If they are long lived machines then the refit would be
> amortized over many years. If these machines are short lived then they
> would just be replaced as needed.
>
> Just because we are trying to push along with altering our currency
> doesn't mean that we can't also push ahead with many of the other issues
> plaguing the blind community.
>
> Over all, I personally think that having money of varying sizes and colors
> would be a benefit to a much larger population than just the blind
> community. It is a good idea and I think that it is worth the effort.
>
> What I would like to see is something like I saw when I was in Italy. All
> the boxes of medication had braille on the box. I thought that was
> absolutely fantastic! The cost of putting braille on a box cutting die
> amortized over the hundreds of thousands of boxes produced by that die
> would be less than negligible.
>
> Just my 42 cents.
>
>
>
> --
> Blue skies.
> Dan Rossi
> Carnegie Mellon University.
> E-Mail: [log in to unmask]
> Tel: (412) 268-9081
>
VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
To join or leave the list, send a message to
[log in to unmask] In the body of the message, simply type
"subscribe vicug-l" or "unsubscribe vicug-l" without the quotations.
VICUG-L is archived on the World Wide Web at
http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/vicug-l.html
|
|
|