Year of people with Disabilities

What are the main concerns of the visually impaired people in terms of the introduction of the euro ?
Some answers provided by the interviews

• In the interviews, there was an extremely high percentage (90 to 95 %) of Belgian respondents in the middle and older age bands and younger and older Spanish respondents, feeling worried about the impending introduction of the euro.
  
  German respondents, whether partially sighted or blind, systematically appeared much less worried than Belgian or Spanish respondents. This considerable difference between national attitudes towards the changeover can be explained however, as just a few weeks before the interviewing started, the national organisation of the blind in Germany had launched a large-scale information campaign on the euro. This unquestionably demonstrates the extremely positive impact of a well-organised, well-targeted information campaign.
  
  
• The introduction of cents was a particular concern for Spanish respondents, as it would be for other countries where cents have since long ago ceased to be used.
  
  
• In those countries (Germany and Spain) where assistance devices were previously in widespread use for national currency denominations, there was concern about losing that assistance.
  
  

• Overall, blind respondents appeared much more worried than their partially sighted peers, whether about not being adequately informed, or about the identification of the euro notes and coins. This is quite easily understandable and further relates to a more general attitude towards their environment. It should nevertheless be adequately addressed.
  
  
• The quite high percentage of respondents, particularly blind people, expressing distrust (as shown not only through the item "dishonesty in the relationship due to the visual impairment" but also through the following item in the table: "They're going to take us in") demonstrates not only how urgent it is to preserve the independence of visually impaired people by training them in using the euro, but also how essential it is for them to feel secure and therefore confident in the whole new monetary system.
  
  
• Resistance to change was more specific to young blind respondents.
  
  

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  CONCERN ABOUT LACK OF INFORMATION
  
  • Receiving at least the same information as the general public was a requirement.
    
    
  • "Loss of reference in the scale of values" was by far the area the most frequently (22 % of respondents) spontaneously mentioned as one of the greatest fears in terms of concern about lack of information.
    
    Quite disturbingly, even the youngest group expressed the same concern for loss of reference in the scale of values !
    
    
  
  
  CONCERN ABOUT THE IDENTIFICATION OF THE EURO COINS AND NOTES
  
  • The level of concern about the identification of the euro coins and notes revealed by the survey is higher (about 2½ times) than the concern about loss of reference in the scale of values.
    
    
  This may sound paradoxical, but the very low level of concern about conversion and the quite low level of concern about the loss of scale of values do seem worrying to us. As far as conversion is concerned, visually impaired people know that they can hardly ever rely on conversion tables, which are most impractical in Braille or even in large print. This is probably why they do not even consider this as a requirement. On the other hand, visually impaired people are not super men and women, any more than sighted people, for whom such a considerable change in the scale of values has no practical impact. Hiding your head in the sand will not help! And facing it all of a sudden on 1st January 2002 may be very disturbing and traumatising !
  
  In our view, the actual identification of coins and notes is such a big concern for visually impaired people that it eclipses other concerns. Therefore, for visually impaired people as for other sectors of the population, it is very important to "provoke" questions as well as curiosity, along with the need to learn and to understand.
  
  THE MOST CRUCIAL AND URGENT NEED : REASSURANCE
  
  This survey also showed that some categories of people think they will experience many difficulties in coping with the introduction of the euro, when in reality, it may be easier than they imagine.
  
  Communication is therefore the key word. Practical information on the euro, the specific identification features of the euro coins and notes and on money handling techniques in general, proves worthwhile. After an initial contact with the euro coins and notes, even if unacceptable mistakes were made which would have been prejudicial had they occurred in real situations with euro coins and notes, people feel reassured that, with training, they will be able to cope.
  
  Hence the practical aspects of euro training such as instructing and training people about best identification techniques seem to be more important as a starting point (in most countries) than explaining the social and political background of the changeover. The wish for information relates directly to people's role as consumers.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Objective : identification of euro coins - initial discovery
  Type of visual impairment : blind and partially sighted
  Type of teaching : one-to-one or in groups of 3 to 5 people maximum
  Age: 4 to 104 - non-recreational activity

  Pairing coins

  
  
  Objective : to learn the identification features of euro coins through trial and error, with the help of a supervisor
  
  Material : 2 sets of 8 euro coins per participant
  Preferably (but not essential), one purse per participant
  
  Number of participants : individual activity; a trainer can however supervise 1 to 5 participants.
  
  Method :
  
  
  • Each participant receives 2 sets of 8 coins mixed together: the objective is to be able to put together the pairs of the same two coins from each set.
    
    
  • It is preferable, after an initial period of individual study, for individuals to give a verbal description of the coins' features.
  
  
  Results from interviews :
  
  
  • This activity may appear simplistic; however, 25 % of all respondents made mistakes when "simply" asked to pair 2 sets of 8 euro coins.
    
    
  • The dimensions of the 5 cent / 10 cent and 50 cent / 1 euro pairs are misleading in being the opposite of their respective values. Also the size differences are not large enough to be easily perceived by quite a large percentage of visually impaired people, both blind and partially sighted.
    
    
  • By country : Confusion rates in Belgium are consistently higher than in Germany and Spain. To take but one example, 43 % of older Belgian respondents confused the 50 cent and the 1 euro coins. Clearly, not being used to handling so many different coins makes a difference...
    
    Generally speaking, the level of confusion is far higher in Belgium than in Germany or Spain. Differences most probably relate to the specific features of coins in the present national denomination and also perhaps to the level of rehabilitation training in the use of the coins in each country. Each of the 15 EU countries will need to address this issue individually.
    
    
  • By visual impairment and age : It is interesting to note that blind respondents in the middle age and older groups made less mistakes in the pairing trial than their partially sighted peers. For example, 40 % of older partially sighted respondents made one or more mistakes in the pairing.
    
    
  • By visual impairment : By contrast, it came as a surprise to us that blind respondents confused the 5 cent and 10 cent coins and the 50 cent and 1 euro coins just as much, or even more so in some categories, than partially sighted respondents. 23 % of blind respondents confused either or both of these 2 pairs.
    
    
  • It is possible that, as they were asked to "pair" the coins, respondents mainly used dimensions as a differentiation criteria. And indeed, 27 out of the 31 respondents who confused these pairs, were observed using "comparing dimensions" as an identification method. Whether they would otherwise have used other discrimination criteria remains a matter of conjecture at this stage.
    
    
  Remark :
  
  If participants are to describe the coins in their own words, the trainers should know the correct terminology : e.g. we do not talk about the 'side' but the 'edge' of a coin; the edge of the 10 cent coin, according to European terminology, is finely scalloped.