[Nfbf-l] Article about White Cane Safety Day

[Sherri]

Thank you. Our meeting is this Saturday. Would love to see you there.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Roanna Bacchus via Nfbf-l" <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org>
To: "NFB of Florida Internet Mailing List" <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org>
Cc: <rbacchus228 at gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 13, 2016 11:12 AM
Subject: Re: [Nfbf-l] Article about White Cane Safety Day


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

_______________________________________________
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/flmom2006%40gmail.com