Bank plan to launch Braille banknotes

ABU DHABI // The Central Bank is planning to add Braille to banknotes. It is thought that the Dh50 and Dh100 note will be the first.

The move is part of a broader plan to improve banking services for those who are visually impaired, according to Wafa bin Sulaiman, director of welfare and rehabilitation of the disabled at the Ministry of Social Affairs.

Ms bin Sulaiman on Sunday told Al Ittihad, The National's Arabic sister newspaper, that the bank would present the ministry with samples of the Braille notes in the coming months.

The ministry will then ask blind people to test these samples.

Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, Minister of Foreign Affairs, last month had urged the bank to investigate the use of Braille on banknotes.

Ms bin Suleiman said that banks would soon receive a manual from the ministry with guidelines on providing services for those who are visually impaired.

Blind people face problems opening accounts, because some banks require the presence of a guardian. We stressed that blind people are otherwise in possession of their full capacities and that finances are a matter of privacy, she said.

“The blind must be treated as normal individuals when they need to open a bank account and procedures should be made easily accessible to them.”

More details about the Braille scheme are expected to be announced in the coming months.