[New-York-News] When Did the White Cane Become White

Fri Oct 7 19:48:50 UTC 2022

When did the White Cane become White 

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Hello to All;

October 15 is White Cane Safety Day. Looking back, I wondered when the white
cane became white and the symbol for the blind. We all heard the story that
white canes are white because of George A. Bonham. In 1930, Bonham,
president of the Peoria Lions Club (Illinois), watched a man who was blind
attempting to cross a street. The man's cane was black, and motorists
couldn't see it, so Bonham proposed painting the cane white with a red
stripe to make it more noticeable. But was he the first to think on this? 

Robert C. Haven, manager of the National Safety Council, lived at 2641
Hennepin Ave., blocks from the Minneapolis Society for the Blind. He moved
to the Minneapolis area for the Safety manager position in late 1920. He is
credited for starting the first driver’s education classes for women in the
country while living in Minneapolis.

His family claims he is the first to think of painting the canes of the
blind white for identification and safety in 1921. That year, he had
occasion to speak with the director of the Minneapolis Society for the
Blind. She wanted to know what the safety council could do to protect the
blind from the new, fast cars on the Minneapolis city streets. Haven called
her back with the suggestion that a meeting be scheduled with his team,
staff of the society and blind people to discuss the matter. At that meeting
a suggestion by Haven was proposed the canes of the blind be painted white.
Along with the painting of the canes, that drivers be educated to stop when
they encounter a blind pedestrian with a white cane. 

Most of the blind at that meeting, were not in favor of painting the canes
white for identification purposes. Some felt being obviously identified
would make them targets on the streets for robbers, especially the
door-to-door salesmen and piano tuners.

Many already used the walking cane as a travel tool, reaching ahead to
locate a curb, steps, open coal shoots, and other obstacles encountered
daily on the streets. Good blind travelers taught each other their
individual techniques that worked on the city streets and country lanes.
Already, those using canes, tapped the ground to listen for echoes or to
determine through sound, textures of the surface under their feet, benches,
or the exterior of a building. Some canes were white, most were not.

One blind man at the meeting, David Rau, a weaver at the Society, said he
would give the white cane idea a try and carry a white cane on the streets
for publicity. Haven went to work to get the press to come to their
demonstration at the busy intersection of Lake and Hennepin near his home.

Rau (1878-1956) a blind, Russian immigrant, had a “special” graduation
certificate from the school for the blind in Faribault in 1905. After
leaving the school, he was placed in the Home for the Feeble Minded in
Faribault, working as a rug weaver. In 1917, Rau moved to Minneapolis and
got a job in the rug weaving department of the Society where he stayed for
the next thirty-five years.

Havens had a cane painted white for Rau. He called the newspapers and asked
them to bring a photographer. Several from the Safety council, the Society
for the Blind and David Rau went to the corner of Hennepin and Lake Streets.
Rau, having confidence in Haven, held the white cane as he was told,
vertically, high in front of him and started across the street. The cars
stopped. Everyone applauded.

The group moved to several other intersections, replaying the same drama.
The cars stopped. Newspaper articles carried the story of how a white cane,
carried by a blind person would make the blind, safe. The articles
encouraged motorists to stop when they saw a white cane aloft at an
intersection.

Blind persons were told to change their travel technique and hold the cane
up and out straight in front of them where a driver could see it from a
distance. The blind pedestrian was told to step off the curb and walk across
the intersection without the cane on the ground. The Society began painting
the canes of the blind white as a courtesy. Several years later, the Society
began classes in how to travel with the white cane. For decades, staff at
the Minnesota agencies for the blind saw the cane as an identification
symbol, not a travel tool.

Days after the demonstration with Mr. Rau, a blind workshop worker from the
Society told the staff that he was at a corner and held up his cane at the
intersection. A truck stopped, the driver got out of the truck and helped
him across the street. The Director of the Society called Haven and relayed
the story. Haven was excited and continued a white cane awareness program
until Haven left the job and the state in 1923.

The Minneapolis City Council passed its White Cane ordinance in 1933,
(eleven years later) calling on drivers to give the right of way to blind
pedestrians. Agency and blind alike worked to secure and promote the
ordinance.

I wish to remark here that the technique taught the blind back then to cross
the streets safely was to benefit the sighted. When the blind traveler came
to the other side of the street, he had to locate the curb with his foot, or
fall. Having the cane aloft made it harder to hear or feel curbs or
obstacles such as another car stopped too far into the intersection. So, now
the blind traveler hit the car. Well, that usually has a better outcome than
the other way around.

And what about David Rau? He died of natural causes in 1956. In 1951, he was
severely injured when hit by a car while carrying his white cane.

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