From Charles Biebl, Baltimore, MD:

Sometime last December, a controversy arose in the blind community concerning whether money should be available in different sizes. The American Council of the Blind (ACB) wants our money changed and the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) does not. The solution proposed by the Department of the Treasury was that blind people should use credit cards and some kind of talking reading device. Well, how many Ziegler readers took the time to let their opinions be known to the Treasury department? You can count me as one of the few--if not the only--blind persons who made their views known.

I told them politely that not all blind people have credit cards, and most of us are on limited incomes and can't afford those talking note tellers. I suggested that they be provided to those of us on low incomes, such as SSI or SSDI. Of course, we would have to prove that we are on low income, by producing a letter from Social Security, for example. As poor as most of us are, there are no free lunches in life. Someone has to pay (in this case the taxpayers) for us to have such a gift.

I did this for a reason, realizing it will never happen. I wanted to show them how unreasonable they were being in making this statement. But I can give several reasons why most blind people did nothing:

1. They were exchanging messages on the Philmore system.

2. They were too busy telephone conferencing, looking for a mate they will never meet (because most of us have no money).

3. They were gossiping about each other with their friends.

Is it any wonder we're in this situation?