[Nfbk] White Cane Safety Day: A Symbol of Independence

[Joey Couch]

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

Joey Couch
cell phone 606-216-8033
email
joey.couch at gmail.com
or
ki4vjd at arrl.net
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