Will Australia re-design it’s banknotes for the vision impaired?

The Human Rights Commission is investigating a complaint against the Reserve Bank of Australia over banknotes not having tactile markings. The complaint to the Human Rights Commission says that Australian banknotes discriminate against the 300,000 people living with visual impairment because they lack the tactile markings.

Australian banknotes are printed in differing colours and sizes, and feature large print numbers to assist people with vision impairment, but they do not feature tactile markings.

Only 23 countries in the world issue banknotes that have tactile markings such as grooves, raised dots or symbols. The United States of America, whose banknotes are all the same size and colour, was recently found to have discriminated against people with vision impairment for not providing adequate information on their banknotes allowing people with vision impairment to differentiate between the denominations. The USA is now redesigning their banknotes.

Canada recently introduced tactile markings on all their banknotes.

The Reserve Bank of Australia is currently looking into redesigning the Australian banknotes to incorporate tactile features for the visually impaired.

For further information, please visit http://www.essentialkids.com.au/family-life/family-home/mother-and-blind-son-say-australian-banknotes-discriminate-against-the-visually-impaired-20140526-38xm8.html