German Federation of Blind and Visually Impaired People
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German Federation of Blind and Visually Impaired People |
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EBU Euro Working Group Survey The ability to handle money is fundamental to the independence of the 7,4 million blind and partially sighted people living in the European Union. This ability is under severe threat through the introduction of the Euro in January 2002. Blind and partially sighted people therefore need special training programmes and suitable tools enabling them to use the new money with the same ease and confidence like sighted people. |
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The survey was organised into the following sections:
(1) Types of concern about the Euro
(2) Level of knowledge about the Euro
(3) Unmet needs of information
(4) Handling national money (coins and notes)
(5) Handling Euro coins and notes
(6) Techniques visually impaired people use for currency
discrimination
(7) Easy discrimination criteria of the Euro coins
In sections (4) and (5) of the survey respondents were asked to handle money under varying conditions. For section (5) an experimental design was chosen. Respondents were asked to take part in three different types of trials:
(a) Pairing trials i.e. putting together the
same Euro coins from two series
(b) Assigning values, i.e. respondents were asked to identify the
values of a complete series in their hands.
(c) Identifying the values of Euro notes using a similar test design
as in (b)
(d) Identifying the Euro denominations under quasi-randomised test
conditions, i.e. respondents were asked to give the correct change
from two series of carefully mixed up coins and notes.
The testing materials used were sample coins and notes provided by DGXXIV and the ECB.
Description of the sample: The data analysed were from a nonrepresentative sample of 187 blind and partially sighted people selected by the national partner organisations.
Visually impaired women in the sample comprised 52 %, while the proportion of men was about 48 %. 30 % of the respondents were ages 7 to 18 years. 30 % of the repondents were people of employment age, i.e. between 19 and 59. The group of those who were 60 and over comprised 40 %.
The results reveal, amongst others, that three years before the Euro will get into the hands of consumers as the sole legal tender in the Euro zone, the level of overall concern among blind and partially sighted people is still considerably high. However, the data suggest that concerns primarily focus on handling the Euro in everyday life. No less than one half of those interviewed expressed concern that discriminating between the coins and notes would present difficulties for them. As many respondents feared that they would lose their independence or might be taken advantage of. More than one third complained about the lack of information.
The level of "Euro literacy", i.e. the very basic facts about the Euro can be classified as still not sufficient. The majority of the respondents were not aware neither of the denominations of the Euro coins and notes nor of details of the changeover time frame. It is remarkable to see that the information needs expressed by the majority of those interviewed are less focused on understanding the political, economic and financial mechanisms of the introduction of the Euro but rather on concrete, practical information which the consumer can use in dealing with money (such as a description of the coins and notes and the features by which they can be recognized).
The study revealed that special training is urgently needed to improve the ability of blind and partially sighted people to discriminate between the Euro coins and notes with ease.
With regards to identifying the different denominations of Euro coins, the 50 cent / 1 Euro as well as the 5 cent / 10 cents were those pairs which, in absolute terms, were confused most frequently with one another. Regarding bank notes discriminating between the 20 and 50 Euro as well as between the 100 and 200 Euro presented the greatest difficulties for blind and partially sighted people.
The ability to discriminate varied by country, age and type of visual impairment. The mistakes blind and partially sighted people made during the trials were serious and would have entailed substantial disadvantages in real life situations. Additionally, it is important to note that the number of mistakes dramatically increased when a randomized test design was used. Here failure rates were often 10 or even 20 times higher than those obtained under standard testing conditions.
In summarizing, this study found that blind and partially sigted people urgently need support in the changeover to enable them to use the new coins and notes with ease and confidence. DBSV will participate in the coming EBU information and training campaigns. Good information and training in discriminating between the Euro coins and notes can help to reduce the fears many blind and partially sighted people have concerning the Euro and can encourage them and strengthen confidence in their abilities.
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