Accessible banknote a ‘win’ for vision-impaired

After the design was unveiled earlier this year, the banknote was finally launched on 1 Septber, with Vision Australia hailing its introduction as a significant win for the blindness and low-vision community .For the first time, the banknote includes a tactile feature – a non-Braille raised bump on each of its long edges. The feature is designed to help people with impaired vision identify the value of the banknote. It was said other denominations would be upgraded over the coming years to include different numbers of bumps.Research conducted by Vision Australia indicated that 61 per cent of people who were completely blind had trouble differentiating between the existing banknote denominations, with nearly half of this group reporting they occasionally did not receive the correct change. The research also found that 93 per cent of people who were blind or had low vision said they would welcome a tactile feature on Australian banknotes.Vision Australia lead policy advisor Mr Bruce Maguire said the tactile feature would assist more than 350,000 Australians who are blind or have low vision to use banknotes with the same level of confidence as the rest of the community. Even though we are moving to a cashless society, there are still many purchasing situations where people want to use cash, he said. The tactile feature allows people like me, who are blind, to pay with and receive cash without the assistance of others or a device. Vision Australia commends the Reserve Bank of Australia on this inclusive outcome and we look forward to continuing to work with the Bank in the years ahead as other denominations are released with the tactile feature. Reserve Bank of Australia head of note issue department Mr Michael Andersen stated, The Bank has consulted extensively with the vision-impaired community to improve the accessibility of Australia’s banknotes. We are pleased that this work has culminated with the introduction of a tactile feature on the new banknotes, making the Australia’s banknotes among the most accessible in the world. The existing $5 banknote will be progressively withdrawn from circulation but can continue to be used as usual.