[Nfbf-l] Article about White Cane Safety Day

[rbacchus228 at gmail.com]

I love it so much 

Sent from my iPad

> On Oct 12, 2016, at 11:08 PM, Sherri via Nfbf-l <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> I was doing some research for our MTBM activity tomorrow and found the 
> following.
> 
> 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
> 
> Sample White Cane Safety Day Proclamation
> 
> 
> The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the 
> characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the 
> expectations
> of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles between blind 
> people and our dreams. You can live the life you want; blindness is not what 
> holds you back.
> 
> Sherri Brun
> flmom2006 at gmail.com
> President NFB of Central Florida
> NFBF Newsline Marketer
> Phone:  877-334-2069
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Nfbf-l mailing list
> Nfbf-l at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbf-l_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Nfbf-l:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbf-l_nfbnet.org/rbacchus228%40gmail.com