[Nfbf-l] Article about White Cane Safety Day

[Sherri]

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