[blindlaw] I'm Confused - RE: Canes and Blindness alongwiththechanging color of the cane

Joe Orozco jsorozco at gmail.com
Thu Apr 1 21:51:14 UTC 2010


The question was not directed at me, but I feel the counter argument here
may be a little stretched.  Traffic lights are for the safety of the whole.
White canes are for the identification of a few.  The government could have
just as easily decreed that canes should be a glaring yellow and achieve the
same level of safety it sought in limiting canes to the color white.  It is
my uneducated opinion that the government merely labeled these laws "White
Cane laws" because they were literally translating the image of the cane,
not because there was any real value in dictating that the canes be white.
We're talking about a person's independent choice of mobility assistance,
not the universal symbol of something like the handicap sticker for parking.
After all, service dogs are service dogs regardless of the breed or style of
harness the dog uses.

Joe Orozco

"Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves,
some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all."--Sam Ewing 

-----Original Message-----
From: blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org 
[mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Steve P. Deeley
Sent: Thursday, April 01, 2010 4:17 PM
To: NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] I'm Confused - RE: Canes and Blindness 
alongwiththechanging color of the cane

Why don't we just let each city and municipality use what ever 
color traffic 
lights they choose to install.  Do you know the meaning of uniformity???

Steve
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mark BurningHawk" <stone_troll at sbcglobal.net>
To: "NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List" <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, April 01, 2010 3:58 PM
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] I'm Confused - RE: Canes and Blindness along 
withthechanging color of the cane


> Can't resist:
>
> I, personally,would like to switch the color of my mobility tool
> because I want it to be *ONLY* that; a mobility tool.  I frankly don't
> like the associations attached to the white cane as a white cane, nor
> do I like the color and its connotations of surrender and
> helplessness.  I don't like the construction o the cane as is,
> designed above all else to be light and to vibrate easily, allowing
> for sensitivity to surfaces.  I also think that a cane should serve
> more than just one purpose as a tool, and in earlier posts I have
> pointed out that, as a weapon, for one example, the cane as designed
> now fails utterly.  I can speak from experience to say that sometimes
> a weapon is a good thing to have--no where did Lao Tsu say "Speak
> softly and carry a long, slender, flimsy stick." :)
>
> Since I find the whole concept of using a long poking / tapping device
> to find out about your environment to be archaic and clumsy, very
> narrow-minded thinking, if I am ever forced to adopt such a strategy,
> I would like said device to serve more than just that poking/tapping
> purpose.  I also do *NOT* want attention drawn to me over blindness,
> as I don't identify myself as a "blind man," but rather as a man; I
> just happen to be blind, and that only some of the time--the rest of
> the time, I just can't see.  It's this image I prefer to put forth,
> however misunderstood it might be, to the world; not that of a person
> who demands the world take note of him as possibly needing help,
> possibly allowing himself to be led about by the hand, and signaling
> that he accepts a second-class status.  That's my position on the
> whole color thing, and my reasoning for the posts I sent last week.  I
> am not advocating for one second that blindness should be ignored or
> is something to be ashamed of, but neither is it something to identify
> with or be proud of in its own right.  Who out there says, "When I
> grow up, I want to be a blind person!"  Being proud of overcoming
> obstacles created by others' opposition to / fear of blindness is
> another thing altogether.
>
> Mark BurningHawk
> Skype and Twitter:  BurningHawk1969
> Home:  Http://MarkBurningHawk.net/
> Namaste!
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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> blindlaw at nfbnet.org
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> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> blindlaw:
> 
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.deeley%40insightbb.com


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