Is U.S. Money Accessible?

Above is a great video about the struggles that blind people face when dealing with money. Because U.S. currency is a uniform size and texture people with visual impairments can not tell the difference between a 5 dollar bill and a twenty dollar bill. When in a retail environment, the visually impaired customer must trust the cashier to give them the correct amount of change. Luckily there are solutions. An iOS app call the Looktel money reader can quickly and accurately determine the denomination of money  by using the device's camera. To read more about the Looktel money reader app click here.     

LookTel Money Reader App is a Handy Tool

For many blind and low vision people recognizing what bill you have in your hand is impossible because all US bills are physically identical. With out any assistive technology the only way to keep track of what bill you have is to ask a sighted person and fold all bills differently. But what happens if the store clerk is dishonest and gives you a one dollar bill instead of a five? Now there is a solution. The LookTel iOS app identifies the bill that is being held in front of the iPhone's camera then it speaks the amount out loud. It only requires a small portion of the bill to be in view of the camera. The LookTel app is $1.99 in the App Store. With the LookTel app you won't have to rely on the clerk to no how much money you are being handed.