President Donald Trump in the early 1980s asked an architect to remove braille from planned residential elevators in Trump Tower in New York, saying blind people would not live there, according to a former longtime executive with the Trump Organisation.

No Braille here: The Trump Tower. Credit:Hiroko Masuike

Barbara Res, a former vice president in charge of construction, made the allegation in a commentary published Wednesday by the New York Daily News and in a subsequent interview with The Washington Post, in which she said the incident happened in 1980 or 1981 as Trump Tower was being designed.

According to Res's account, an architect came to Trump's office to show him designs for the interiors of residential elevator cabs in Trump Tower, which also hosts businesses. He noticed dots next to the buttons and asked what they were, she said.

"Braille," the architect replied, according to Res.