Here's a challenge for those of use who carry real, paper money (that filthy lucre): lay out all of your vast wallet wealth, shuffle up those bills, close your peepers (no peeking) and try to figure out which bill is which. Can't do it wihout help? Neither can the blind--that is, unless they rely on others (in many cases, people they don't know or trust) to tell them. That notion is at the heart of a ruling by the US Court of Appeals, which affirmed the ruling of a lower court.

A US Court of Appeals has ruled the Department of the Treasury is, in fact, discriminating against the blind and visually impaired by printing money that's all the same size with no tactile features to distinguish one bill from another. This ruling affirms a ruling by James Robertson in a suit brought by the American Council of the Blind which demanded the Treasury create a method to tell bills apart. That judge concluded that the configuration of our currency violates the Rehabilitation Act's guarantee of "meaningful access." The Court of Appeals ruled that modifications to currency don't present an "undue burden" on the Department of the Treasury.

The government hasn't been idle during the six or so years that this issues has been being litigated. A recent change included the redesign of the $5 bill, using a large, offset number five and distinctive ink. More needs to be learned as this issue meets up with studies showing that coins and even paper money are becoming too expensive to produce.

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