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Regarding the Iowa guide dog case
To the Editor:
As a life member of ACB, 1996 Durward K. McDaniel Ambassador Award recipient and former employee of the Council, I am very concerned that the board of directors may have lost sight of one of our organization’s core missions: to ensure equality for blind and visually impaired people. According to some discussion on the ACB-L e-mail list, a nine-member majority of the board recently voted not to join in a complaint made by an Iowa dog guide user against the Iowa Department for the Blind, which allegedly refused to allow the woman to participate in a training program accompanied by her dog. The rationale for the board’s position, as related on the ACB-L list, was that this controversy was a local matter best handled by the Iowa Council of the United Blind, which also refused to join in the complaint.
Thanks to a cross-disability advocacy organization and a few dog guide schools, the woman who only wanted to use her mobility aid of choice did receive support for her human rights complaint. I am at a loss to understand why the ACB board would not join in this complaint. Have we deviated from our core commitment of equality of access such that we are willing to compromise this principle so as not to offend a state affiliate? Are we so worried about the rights of an affiliate that we are willing to remain silent when a blind person has clearly faced discrimination? Shame on the ACB board and the Iowa Council for their posture in this matter. I trust that the rights of the dog guide user will eventually be vindicated, but this will occur without the assistance of ACB. I think the vast majority of ACB members and affiliates would support a blind person’s right to choose his/her mobility aid, and would be gravely concerned if a government agency were able to dictate its terms of service in a discriminatory manner. We are all diminished when one of us is denied a civil right. Perhaps the convention, as the supreme authority in ACB, can remedy this unfortunate situation in July. Will ACB step up to the plate and be counted?
— Scott Marshall, Silver Spring, Md.
Regarding Accessible Currency
I would like to respond to the view expressed by Bruno J. Wolozyn, of Oil City, Pa. in the October Forum. First of all, I don’t see anything wrong with the leadership of ACB going to court to get our government to print identifiable money. If the European Union has already done this for about 12 countries, I don’t see why the United States can’t do the same. After all, we’re in the process of issuing new money anyway, so why not make some bills a different size or even a different color? The European Union has seven paper notes and eight coins. The notes are 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 and 500 euros. The euros are different colors and they all have a pale strip across the middle with the numbers on the front and back of the notes. The notes range in color from gray to purple for the 500 euro note. Each of the coins is quite distinguishable. Before I went to Europe in May this year, I knew the euro and had no trouble distinguishing any coins or notes. The notes are from 6.2 to 8.2 centimeters tall and from 12 to 16 centimeters in length. I requested 100 euros before leaving. I received 3 20’s, 3 10’s and 2 5’s. I shocked the bank officials by telling them which note was which!
In the USA, I get all tens in dollars. That way I don’t have to worry about changing a $20 with a cabdriver. I won’t lose a big note in that case. In stores, I ask what the notes are and there’s usually a crowd watching. Why should I drop $375 to buy a Canadian Note Teller to identify my own currency? No way, Jose!
On a different matter concerning money, I’d like to express my shock in learning that the membership of ACB has refused the idea of holding a convention at a college. The idea is you pay ACB $500 for a week’s stay at a local college or university which would include meals as well as rooms, and ACB pays the university or college a set fee for the use of the school for that week. ACB then keeps the difference in money toward, say, an endowment fund. This would in my humble opinion be an excellent way to get the organization back on a strong financial footing. That endowment fund could then be complemented by other fund-raisers. The idea of a college or university-based convention would save the attendees quite a bit of money. As it is now you pay at least $690 just for a room for the week! I see these costs continuing to go up. But maybe you’d like to give the college idea some more thought? Perhaps it could make our organization a stronger advocacy agency by allowing us to generate more revenue and thus enabling us to hire one or two more people to assist with the job of lobbying for us on Capitol Hill. Frankly, I think it’s not too big a sacrifice to endure toward the final aim of the overall goals of the organization.
— Isaac Obie, Boston, Mass.
I want to comment on my and other letters regarding the accessibility of money. It is true that plastic dividers are useful in wallets, as well as folding of bills, as well as Note Tellers, as well as requesting sighted assistance. I personally have not used dividers; however, if I can find them, no one says I cannot, or will not. I fold bills in select ways. I have also requested sighted assistance; who hasn’t? However, not everyone can afford a Note Teller, which is probably the most reliable way we have of differentiating various denominations. Charlie Crawford and I exchanged e-mails on this subject all last weekend.
But let’s say we are in a store, bar, hotel, dance hall, or anywhere else, and we are handed a bill, or several bills. How are we going to know what they are, with absolute certainty, without asking? How can we know, for sure, that the person handing us the bills is trustworthy? These kinds of situations demonstrate the necessity of having bills which are equally accessible to the blind and the sighted. So how do we make the money accessible?
The best way would be to put braille on the currency. Let me point out here that so-called paper money is not really paper, but cloth, with metal strips in the cloth. Any braille reader knows that braille can be read, even if the medium where it appears is thin. So braille could be put on metal strips in bills; and the braille dots would be indestructible, as long as the bills were in circulation.
Another benefit of brailling currency for identification would be the increased incentive for more blind and visually impaired people to learn braille. Literacy would greatly increase.
— Jeff Frye, Overland Park, Kan.