Pupils in our class in Culverhill School have decided to support their visually impaired classmate. They realised how hard it is for him to tell the difference between bank notes of different values. They found out that some other countries such as Australia have tactile symbols on their notes. This makes all the money handling much easier and less stressful. They believe that it would  also be beneficial for elderly people.

Our pupils have checked the Equality statement from the Bank of England which says: "The Bank is committed to contributing towards equality in the wider community. It aims to minimise obstacles faced by people who visit the Bank, use its banknotes and access information about the Bank."

 After our pupils pointed out to the Bank of England that it was very difficult for visually impaired people to feel the difference between bank notes of different values they replied saying that the different sizes of bank notes should enable this to happen.

Our pupils have run an experiment where different people were blind-folded, handed bank notes of different values and asked to guess how much they were holding. Very often the answers were wrong and  people admitted to guessing! 

Pupils in Culverhill School believe that tactile symbols on bank notes would greatly simplify the use of money for visually impaired people.  This would help many people including those who are losing their sight due to old age or other causes. 

Pupils believe that visually impaired people should not have to rely on other people's honesty  when they are handling money in shops and other places.

You can follow the link to our School site to check our pupils investigations on this topic and the philosophy behind their demand.

http://www.culverhillschool.org.uk/page/?title=Tactile+money+project%21&pid=88

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