America’s currency may have to be modified following a federal appeals court ruling today that said the blind and visually impaired are discriminated against by the format of paper currency.
“This is an important victory for people who are blind and visually impaired,” said Mark Richert, director of public policy for the American Council of the Blind, told the Associated Press. “We … look forward to the day when people with vision loss have as reliable access to paper money as everyone else.”

The council had sued the government for changes to paper money to allow different denominations to be more easily distinguished by the blind and visually impaired. Changes have been made in Canada and Europe that allows bills to be distinguished by touch.

But the ruling hasn’t met with favor by everyone.

National Federation of the Blind President, Dr. Marc Maurer, said: “Today’s ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is profoundly misguided and may unintentionally do real harm to blind Americans. Hundreds of thousands of blind people use paper money every day without difficulty. We hope that this ruling will not have the unintended consequence of reinforcing society’s misconception that blind people are unable to function in the world as it currently is. Identifying items by touch (including currency) is convenient, but not essential to blind people being able to participate fully in society.”

The AP says 3.7 million persons in the U.S. are visually impaired, according to a National Academy of Sciences study cited by the court, and of them, 200,000 persons have no vision at all.