HELL YEAH: Our New $5 Note Is The 1st In Australia Blind People Can Read

Y’all had a lot of fun when the new $5 note got announced in April. As we reported at the time, nefarious and questionably-patriotic twitter folk set about photoshopping the currency almost immediately:

 

We described the bill as looking “fine”. More precisely, we said that, at best, there was “nothing fundamentally terrible about it”. We now know, however, that there are some things about the note which are awesome, and have nothing at all to do with how it looks.
The new $5 note is the first in Australia that blind people can read – something Vision Australia lead policy advisor Bruce Maguire says will assist almost 360,000 Australians who are blind or vision-impaired. 
“For the first time in the history of Australian currency it will be possible for someone who is blind or vision-impaired to just pick up a note and know instantly what it is. As a blind person I think this change is one of the most significant – if not the most significant – inclusive actions I’ve seen in Australia in my lifetime because while there have been other inclusive actions, like audible pedestrian crossings, they’re not universal, they differ from state to state.”
The decision to add the two, tiny raised dots to the bank note was largely thanks to a change.org petition led by blind teenager Connor McLeod, who successfully lobbied the government to include tactile markings on the new fiver.
“My desire for change in this area started at Christmas in 2012,” said Connor, “when I had received some money for Christmas and couldn’t tell how generous, or, for that matter, how cheap my folks had been.”
Writing for the ’tiser, he says:

“Now when I grow up, I won’t have to rely on trusting that people have always given me the right change. I can feel the markings on the bank notes and tell them if they’ve given me the wrong change and also think to myself: I did that.”

Knowing we’ve got top notch, inclusive new banknotes is going to make that $5 Stunner Meal all the sweeter.
They officially go into circulation Australia-wide September 1.
Photo: RBA.

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