[nagdu] Reference Needed

[Gail Smith]

Hi Marion!
Is this what you were looking for?
This was taken from the NFB web site.  The link for the web page is at the 
bottom.

White Cane Safety Day: A Symbol of Independence
by Marc Maurer
In February of 1978 a young blind lady said, "I encounter people all of the 
time
who bless me, extol my independence, call me brave and courageous, and 
thoroughly
miss the boat as to what the real significance of the white cane is."
The National Federation of the Blind in convention assembled on the 6th day 
of July,
1963, called upon the governors of the fifty states to proclaim October 15 
of each
year as White Cane Safety Day in each of our fifty states. On October 6, 
1964, a
joint resolution of the Congress, HR 753, was signed into law authorizing 
the President
of the United States to proclaim October 15 of each year as "White Cane 
Safety Day."
This resolution said: "Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives., 
that
the President is hereby authorized to issue annually a proclamation 
designating October
15 as White Cane Safety Day and calling upon the people of the United States 
to observe
such a day with appropriate ceremonies and activities."
Within hours of the passage of the congressional joint resolution 
authorizing the
President to proclaim October 15 as White Cane Safety Day, then President 
Lyndon
B. Johnson recognized the importance of the white cane as a staff of 
independence
for blind people. In the first Presidential White Cane Proclamation 
President Johnson
commended the blind for the growing spirit of independence and the increased 
determination
to be self-reliant that the organized blind had shown. The Presidential 
proclamation
said:
The white cane in our society has become one of the symbols of a blind 
person's ability
to come and go on his own. Its use has promoted courtesy and special 
consideration
to the blind on our streets and highways. To make our people more fully 
aware of
the meaning of the white cane and of the need for motorists to exercise 
special care
for the blind persons who carry it Congress, by a joint resolution approved 
as of
October 6, 1964, has authorized the President to proclaim October 15 of each 
year
as White Cane Safety Day.
Now, therefore, I, Lyndon B. Johnson, President of the United States of 
America do
hereby proclaim October 15, 1964 as White Cane Safety Day.
With those stirring words President Johnson issued the first White Cane 
Proclamation
which was the culmination of a long and serious effort on the part of the 
National
Federation of the Blind to gain recognition for the growing independence and 
self-sufficiency
of blind people in America, and also to gain recognition of the white cane 
as the
symbol of that independence and that self-reliance.
The first of the state laws regarding the right of blind people to travel 
independently
with the white cane was passed in 1930. In 1966, Dr. Jacobus tenBroek, the 
founder
of the National Federation of the Blind, drafted the model White Cane Law. 
This model
act--which has become known as the Civil Rights Bill for the Blind, the 
Disabled,
and the Otherwise Physically Handicapped--contains a provision designating 
October
15 as White Cane Safety Day. Today there is a variant of the White Cane Law 
on the
statute books of every state in the nation.
>From 1963 (and even before) when the National Federation of the Blind sought 
to have
White Cane Safety Day proclaimed as a recognition of the rights of blind 
persons,
to 1978 when a blind pedestrian met with misunderstanding regarding the true 
meaning
of the white cane, is but a short time in the life of a movement. In 1963, a 
comparatively
small number of blind people had achieved sufficient independence to travel 
alone
on the busy highways of our nation. In 1978 that number has not simply 
increased
but multiplied a hundredfold. The process began in the beginning of the 
organized
blind movement and continues today. There was a time when it was unusual to 
see a
blind person on the street, to find a blind person working in an office, or 
to see
a blind person operating machinery in a factory. This is still all too 
uncommon.
But it happens more often and the symbol of this independence is the white 
cane.
The blind are able to go, to move, to be, and to compete with all others in 
society.
The means by which this is done is that simple tool, the white cane. With 
the growing
use of the white cane is an added element--the wish and the will to be 
free--the
unquenchable spirit and the inextinguishable determination to be 
independent. With
these our lives are changed, and the prospects for blind people become 
bright. That
is what White Cane Safety Day is all about. That is what we do in the 
National Federation
of the Blind
Model White Cane Law
©2010 All Rights Reserved - Copyright 2010 NFB

http://www.nfb.org/nfb/White_Cane_Safety_Day.asp?SnID=2

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Marion Gwizdala" <blind411 at verizon.net>
To: "NAGDU List" <nagdu at nfbnet.org>; <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>; "NFB Chapter 
presidents" <chapter-presidents at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, July 14, 2010 3:45 PM
Subject: [nagdu] Reference Needed


Dear All,
    I am looking for an authoritative reference to verify when the NFB's 
Model White Cane Law was written or first appeared. If anyone can point me 
to such a reference, it would be greatly appreciated.

fraternally yours,
Marion Gwizdala, President
National Association of Guide Dog Users
National Federation of the Blind
813-626-2789
President at NAGDU.ORG
HTTP://NAGDU.ORG
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