New Australian $5 Bank Note Has Tactile Mark For Blind People

image shows the new Australian $5 note and describes all the new features - rolling color effect, top to bottom window, flying eastern spinebill, reversing 5, tactile feature, and federation star.

The Reserve Bank of Australia has introduced a new $5 banknote that, among several new features, also has a tactile marking for people who are blind or have low vision. The tactile marking is on both of the longer sides of the note at the bottom, and consists of one bump to denote $5. Future banknotes will have two bumps for $10 note, three bumps for $20 and so on. This new feature will give 360,000 visually impaired Australians the ability to quickly differentiate between various denominations without having to depend on others or use of accessories or apps. This is helpful especially in busy establishments where there is a huge line for check out.

Besides the tactile mark, the new $5 note also has a clear top to bottom window, rolling color effect, a flying Eastern Spinebill, a Federation Star, and a number 5 that reverses when the note is tilted.

 

Source: SBS

Note: A reader mentioned that Canada also has tactile bumps on its bank notes! In fact, they have had them for quite some time now. $5 has one six dot symbol, 10$ has two six dot symbols, $20 has 3, $50 has 4, and $100 has two symbols that are seprated by a smooth surface wider than that of the $10 note. These notes also have large, high contrast numbers for people with low vision, and they work with a device called bank reader as well which reads out the denomination out loud to the user. You can read about accessibility features in Canadian bank notes here.

Does your country have accessible bank notes too? Let us know in the comments below!

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