How can you identify your money if you cannot see it?" Asked my new client Ellie. She was eighty-seven years old, had a common eye disease called macular degeneration and could no longer see to distinguish detail like print or recognize faces. My name is Samuel Patrick, I'm blind, Ellie's rehabilitation counselor and we were sitting at the kitchen table in her eleventh floor high rise apartment. Today's session would concentrate on non-visual methods for money identification. She already had her blind-fold on for the lesson.
I answered her,"Like most tasks there are several ways in which it can be accomplished. Let's look at the coins first." Dropping a small handful of them a short distance onto the table cloth, I picked out what I needed. We would see what she knew, first. "Here are the four most common, the penny, nickel, dine and quarter. But before I hand them over, tell me what they look like?" Emphasizing "look." It was always interesting to see what the newly blinded individual's visual memory held and more importantly, build from it if possible.
"Oh, they are different sizes. But....." Already she was getting nervous, on the edge of frustration. "For a while I was able to tell them apart by color, but not any more. Now when I feel them and am under pressure, I get some of them mixed up."
"That is a problem. Let's think about it. If color no longer works, size is one major feature we can go by and if we add in their other unique characteristics, it becomes easier yet. For example, do you know which two of the four have a ruff edge?"
"Well no, do they?" A not too surprising answer.
"Yes, but tell you what, we'll get to that characteristic in a minute. Right now let's concentrate on size." I figured it'd be best to start off with something she was familiar with; start with the known, the positive and build from there.
Placing all four coins into her hand I said, "By size, which is which?"
With just a little examination she said, "Here is the quarter." Touching my hand with it, confidence in her expectation.
"Correct."
"The penny and the dime are the most difficult for me. Here is the nickel, the next biggest and is thicker, too. And now, these two....." She stopped talking, making sounds of concentration which intensified as the seconds past and she became more frustrated.
It was time to point out another characteristic. "Ellie, recall I mentioned two of them have a rough edge? The quarter was one and the dine is the other."
"ZIP!" Her finger nail moved a short distance across a milled edge. "Oh, I'll be darned. Here." She handed me the dime, the penny "Clinked" down with its compatriots. "This will certainly help. I have felt so embarrassed at the cash register and have to give change. Either I hold out a handful of coins and ask them to pick out what they need or give them all bills and force them to make change. But how does someone handle paper money? Size won't help here, but don't some countries have different sizes for their denominations?"
"There are a few countries that do. I know the Greek bills are that way and I bet there are others."
Her next question didn't surprise me, being a natural for this line of thought. "Aren't you afraid of being cheated? What do they call it.....ah, being short changed?"
"Not really. Most people are honest and if you don't give them the chance to cheat you, they won't. Here is an example of what I mean: Say the bill is eight dollars and you don't have the correct amount. Don't give them a big bill, like a twenty or god for bid anything larger. Think about this, if you gave a twenty in this scenario, you could be given back three bills and be told they were two ones and a ten and for all you know, the bills could all be ones! In a case like this it is smarter to give them something close to the correct amount, like ten dollars, a ten or two fives. This way you control the transaction, you aren't giving them a chance to substitute, because the only type of bill they could give you back would be one's. So like I say, don't even give them an opportunity to think about it."
"I understand that part. But, how do you know what you are giving them?"
"Getting your money in the first place does involve some trust. So to handle this end of it, if you get it from the bank or a store, have them count it out in front of others in line. Maybe have them place the different denominations into separate piles. Or if you get it from an automatic teller machine, you could ask a friend to verify what is what. The rule here is do what works for you. Then after you know what you have, you organize it in a fashion that makes sense to you. The most common method I've seen for identification and, use myself, is folding. Fold each denomination in a different way, one which makes sense to you. For example: I leave a one out flat. A five I fold in half, once left to right. A ten I fold in half once from left to right, then again left to right and it ends up in fourths. A twenty I fold once left to right, then once from top to bottom; ends up in fourths too, but different than the ten. Another way which can be used is to place your bills in different sections in your wallet." Giving her a shrug in both body and voice, "Like with most things, there's more than one way to handle it."
"Okay, makes sense." She said and you could see she was thinking about what she'd say next. "Could they put Braille on the bills for us?" Another common question relating to money management.
"Let's take a look at that." Extracting a bill from my wallet, I figured I'd make this into a lesson on both problem solving and Braille. "Here is a ten. A fairly new one, pretty stiff yet. Grab your slate and stylus and label it for us."
"I might need a little help. Remember we just started the numbers last week." She said and started working on it.
Before she could get the slate closed I Said, "in fact let's make sure we put the braille on the front side of the bill."
"How will we know which is the front?"
"Each side has a distinctive texture. The front side with the face of a president on it is the slicker side. The back side is considerably grainier." I could hear her fingering the bill. "Some people can tell by just touching it, but I usually go one step further. I fold it over so you rub the same side on itself." Reaching over to where I could still hear her working with it, I demonstrated.
"Let us see." She answered, concentration in her voice. "First this side. Now this.....Oh you can hear it too! This raspy side is the back." Voice sounding different she said, "Its a cute trick, yet I fail to see why you need to know this?"
"If you ever need to use a bill changer it requires you to insert the bill in a specific way, face or front side up. Knowing which is which cuts down your guessing by half. Then have you noticed that a lot of the newer vending machines around town now give you the option to insert a dollar bill instead of using coins? So same story there too. Otherwise, it doesn't really matter."
"Okay." She said replacing the bill in the slate. "I know the numbers are the first ten letters of the alphabet. however the sign you use with them escapes me."
"The number sign? But before you start, let's go one step further." Then I described how to make that number sign serve as a dollar sign.
She went quiet for the time it took to Braille out the required four characters. A short chuckle of satisfaction told me she was finished. "There we are." Handing it to me she guided my finger to the Braille.
"Perfect."
"Would jumbo Braille work better?" She asked. I had initially shown her both sizes; she opted to go with the more common standard size.
"What do you think? If I put either type back into my wallet and sit around on it and so does the next guy and the next?"
"Hmm, if you have several of them in there and if a lot of people have it before and after you and......" You could tell she was thinking through this new point. "No, neither will work. The paper is not made for this."
"I agree. Maybe they could use different paper, but even then the way Braille makes the bill thicker right there at the corner, I think it would make a fat section in your wallet and would be a real pain."
"I believe I now understand what is involved in working out alternatives for handling money. I will get out my own paper money and we will see." Retrieving her bag, she worked for sometime on a system and when we finished she had one she felt comfortable with. "I will need to practice with these every day. I really hate being slow when people are waiting on me."
"Good. Its like most skills, you need to work with it to get good at it. In fact, talking about handling yourself in a store, next visit we will go to the store and see what alternatives are needed; we had touched lightly on this in a recent visit.
Finished for the day I began gathering up my things. "Between now and next visit, you could start making Braille labels for your cans and boxed goods. There is nothing better to advance your Braille skills than with a practical daily use for it."
"Could I interest you in a cup of coffee or a soda before you leave, Samuel?"
"Thank you, but no. I think I'll take advantage of the few extra minutes I have before the bus and visit the small grocery store over here on the corner and run a quick errand. Maybe that is the place we should start when we decide to do the store thing."
"Yes, that would make sense; I do most of my trading with them. As I told you on your first visit, I have a terrible time finding things in any store setting." Sighing with grudgeful acceptance. "Getting out to the larger stores is harder as you get older. Most of us here go across the way to that grocery. It is convenient, but in those smaller stores you always seem to spend more money in there than you think you will."
Leaving Ellie's building I had a little over a half hour before the bus would come. My stopping in at the store would not only allow me to take care of getting my Secret Pal at work their favorite candy bar, but also give me a preview of the store where Ellie and I would soon be working together.
In the store the first thing that assaulted my senses was a woman's voice cutting in over the intercom and its normal elevator music, pleading for the manager to come back to the meat counter. The store itself wasn't busy at the moment. Off to the right I heard an older gentlemen being checked out, to the left two ladies discussed the merits of the vegetables, while someone else pushed a cart down an aisle to my front.
The display of candy was where Ellie had described to me and the type of bar I wanted didn't take long to find (it was my long standing favorite and its distinctive shape was easy to identify).
In the check-out line I stood and waited behind a woman who was taking an unusually long time to carry out her business. She wasn't buying much, but was having a problem finding the correct change; made me wonder if she too was experiencing blindness and was new at it. Two more people came up behind me in line and I had the impression they were the pair that had been debating the sweetness of red to purple onions.
My turn at the register came and I had my stuff ready.
"Two Butter Fingers. That's $.75 twice and tax; $1.58, please." Said the guy who was the cashier.
"Here's a ten," I said, laying out the bill for identification sake. Then put down fifty-eight cents; always liked to get rid of coins, couldn't stand to jingle when I walked.
"$1.58 out of $10.58." He said and began rooting around in the cash drawer like you do when making change. "Here is your money, sir." Handing over the bills in a pile, he started making sounds of bringing out a plastic bag.
Wanting to save him the trouble I said, "Thanks. I'll just put these in my bag." Then readying myself to leave, bars put away, money still unsorted in my hand I asked the cashier, "Which is the five? The one on top or bottom?"
"Neither." Said the lady who was right behind me in line. "You don't have a five."
This was a puzzler to me, then counting the bills I found I had only four. I knew what I had given the guy, heard him confirm it.
The cashier spoke up, "You gave me a five." This answer was a real surprise to me, too.
"No." Said the lady again. "I saw him give you a ten."
It got confusing at this point. I tried to say something, the cashier was trying to talk, the lady to my right was speaking at both me and the cashier and a second older woman two people down in the line spoke up too.
"Please. ladies and gentlemen. I am the manager. May I help straighten this out?" Alouder commanding voice at my right elbow over-road us all. Order established he said to me, "Now sir, you are the customer with the question?"
"Yes, we seem to have a mix up with our money." I explained the transaction and showed him the four ones.
"That's right!" Spoke up the lady immediately to my left. "I saw the ten."
"jack," said the manager to the cashier, "a simple mistake. Give the man the rest of his change."
"No that's not it!" The lady two places back in the line asserted. "he put this young gentleman's bill in his pocket!"
Silence was the response to this statement. Fumbling in the drawer, the cashier sputtered, "Naa, naa, no! I did not! I'll get a five for him."
"Jack, what's this lady talking about here?" Asked the now very interested manager. But with no immediate answer forth coming from his increasingly flustered employee, he asked, "Mama, what exactly did you see?"
"This man here took the young gentleman's ten, did some fancy work at the drawer and then I saw him slip it folded up into the pocket of his apron."
From the sounds I heard I deduced the manager reached out and took a hold of the cashier's apron. "What are these here in your apron pocket?" Explain!"
"Ah, its my money. Tips and, and just my money." He said and sounded very nervous.
I spoke up. "There is more than one way to figure this out. If my ten is there, it can be easily identified by Braille on the front. The dots are rather smashed, but it says, $10.00." My thoughts were flying. Brailled money was going to help here. Then there was Ellie's statement, "You always seem to spend more money in there than you think you will."
"Check this one here, sir." The manager said to me and handed over my Brailled ten dollar bill.