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One of the Central Bank of Barbados’ major considerations as it was designing the upcoming 2022 banknote series was to ensure that Barbadians who are visually impaired or fully blind will be able to differentiate between denominations without having to rely on sighted people for assistance.
Early in the project and periodically afterwards, the Bank consulted with representatives of the Association for the Blind and Deaf to come up with a set of tactile marks that members of their community could use to identify the value of the note they are handling. Ultimately, it was decided that the marks would be in the form of distinct shapes:
In addition to the tactile marks, the Bank has increased both the brightness of the colours and the contrast between denominations as well as made the numerals indicating the value of the notes larger for the benefit of the partially sighted.
Watch the video below to see Octavia Gibson, Director of Currency and Payments Oversight and Gareth Evans, Country Director at De La Rue, which manufactures Barbadian banknotes, discuss how the Central Bank approached designing features for the visually impaired.