BSP to put Braille on money

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is exploring the integration of Braille writing onto Philippine banknotes and coins for the visually impaired.

“The BSP is now exploring the addition of Braille functionality to Philippine banknotes, which aims to benefit as many as 2.5 million visually impaired Filipinos,” said the BSP.

Braille is a system of raised dots or cells that can be traced by the fingertips of the blind to read. It was first developed in 1821 by French educator and inventor Louis Braille.

Meanwhile, the BSP has been issuing memos and statements that emphasize the importance of respecting the rights of persons with disabilities (PWDs).

Based on the 2010 Census of Population and Housing of the Philippine Statistics Authority, 1.57% or 1.443 million Filipinos are PWDs.

During the recent webinar for the 43rd National Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation Week, the BSP reaffirmed its commitment to “continuously engage the sector and better respond to the needs of PWDs.”

“Empowering vulnerable sectors has always been an underlying objective of the BSP’s efforts. For this reason, we are stepping up our financial inclusion efforts to ensure financial services are within easy reach for all Filipinos, including PWDs,” said BSP Governor Benjamin E. Diokno.

Last July 16, the BSP issued a reminder to all banks to uphold the rights of PWDs as financial consumers and clients. The memo directed all BSP-supervised financial institutions (BSFIs) to refrain from PWD discriminatory practices such as refusing government-issued PWD identification cards as  IDs for the opening of accounts and other financial transactions.

The BSP has also directed all BSFIs to not turn away visually impaired persons from opening bank accounts by “requiring the visually impaired customers to open only joint (“and/or”) accounts.”

Moreover, the BSP reminded all BSFIs to make sure that they have installed mobility ramps and Braille systems in bank premises and automated teller machines or ATMs.

SOURCE: Manila Bulletin