First ever five dollar note for the Blind community to be issued in Australia
A five dollar note will be released in Australia this Thursday with a new inclusive feature.
For the first time, the bill will include a tactile element aimed at helping citizens with low or no vision differentiate it from other denominations of bank note.
The new five dollar bill is part of a significant redesign of Australia's currency. While the new note was universally hated for its loud graphics when announced in April ("our new fivers look like vomit," was one criticism), this small tweak could make a real difference for more than 357,000 Australians.
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A 15-year-old called Connor McLeod helped spark the change. McLeod and his mother Ally Lancaster set up a petition on Change.org three years ago that laid out the case for tactile markings to be added to the currency.
"Yes, the notes are all different sizes and that helps a little but unless he has one of each note in his wallet to compare where does the defining point come from?" Lancaster wrote. "He feels having to ask for assistance is embarrassing and defines him by his disability."
After 57,201 people signed the petition, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) responded in Feb. 2015 promising that the next generation of Aussie currency would have the tactile markings McLeod and his mum asked for. And from Thursday, this new currency will be in Aussie hands.
Aaron Tyler, the man who designed the new currency, made McLeod his own personal bank note in tribute, calling him a "legend."
"When you next get the new fiver in your change, feel the new bumps, and think about how Connor has changed our banknotes forever," Tyler said in a statement.
"I'm just an ordinary kid, I didn’t see myself as a campaigner," McLeod said in a statement provided to Mashable Australia. "But if I come across something that doesn't sound right, I like to do something about it rather than just complain.
"It felt unlikely they'd listen to a young blind boy. But in the end, they had to."
According to a RBA spokesperson, McLeod's petition prompted the agency to re-examine the issue. "Advances in technology have now allowed us to incorporate an effective and durable tactile feature into the new banknotes," she told Mashable Australia.
Other features of Australian bank notes intended to help the Blind community and those with low vision include different lengths for different amounts, bright colours and large type.
UPDATE: Aug. 31, 2016, 4:28 p.m. AEST Statement added from the RBA.
Ariel Bogle was an associate editor with Mashable in Australia covering technology. Previously, Ariel was associate editor at Future Tense in Washington DC, an editorial initiative between Slate and New America.
