It was a learning experience

The Sunday Times, Sri Lanka
Sunday, October 28, 2007

It was a learning experience

By Anne Abayasekara

The national celebration of the 38th International White Cane Day

Having eyes, we see not - was the thought that came to me as I sat in the 
auditorium of the Public Library which was filled with blind as well as 
partially sighted users of the White Cane and their friends and relatives on 
October 15. We, the sighted, often pass by people with various disabilities, 
often failing to recognize them as fully human like ourselves. I learned much 
that day.

It was fitting that the Chief Guest at this year's event organized by the Sri 
Lanka Council for the Blind, was Lion Kamal Senevirathna, District Governor of 
the International Association of Lions Clubs, District 306 A2, because it was 
the Lions who were responsible for securing worldwide recognition of the 
importance of the White Cane.
 
It was originally introduced in America in 1920 by Lion Richard Hoover who was 
attached to a hospital in Pennsylvania. Helen Keller, internationally famous as 
a person who triumphed over multiple disabilities that included blindness, 
urged the Lions International, as far back as 1925, to promote the use of the 
White Cane for securing mobility for the blind. 

However, it was declared an international day only in 1969 when the 2nd 
convention of the International Federation of the Blind was hosted by the Sri 
Lanka Council for the Blind under the patronage of the then Prime Minister, the 
late Dudley Senanayake, at the Galle Face Hotel. 

Seated before a mike at a side table was the Secretary of the Council, S.L. 
Hettiarachchi, sightless himself, who served as an excellent compere for the 
event. Before the proceedings commenced, the gathering rose to observe two 
minutes silence in memory of the late Rienzie Akagiyawanna who pioneered the 
observation of the International White Cane Day in Sri Lanka, and of his 
brother, Dr. K.L.V. Alagiyawanna whose efforts first secured teaching 
appointments in main-stream schools for vision-impaired graduates.After 
Amaradasa Gunawardana, President of the Council for the Bind, formally welcomed 
everybody, messages were read out from President Mahinda Rajapaksa and from the 
Douglas Devananda, Minister of Social Services and Social Welfare. The guest of 
honour, Mrs. V. Jegarajasingam, Secretary to the Ministry of Social Welfare, 
spoke of the commitment of her ministry to promoting the rights of the disabled.

Someone described on the programme as "a blind achiever", came to the mike and 
gave a clear account of some of his experiences as a blind person. He was 
Attorney-at-law and Legal Officer of the Disability Organisations Joint Front 
(DOJF) R.N.H.G.Gunaratna. He recalled a day long ago when he was a young pupil 
at the School for the Blind in Ratmalana, and the late Col. C.P. Jayawardana 
had come to the school and demonstrated to the then Principal, Kingsley 
Dassenaike and the staff and students, the usefulness of the White Cane as an 
aid to mobility of the blind. 

Mr. Gunaratna also made the important point that laws and regulations were not 
enough - they had to be acted upon, to be implemented. Another high achiever, 
the smiling Kamala Xavier who is probably the only blind student so far to 
graduate in Philosophy from the Peradeniya University, gave a fine "pep" talk 
in which she declared that the disabled need to preserve their self-esteem. 

"We may lack one faculty, but we are equally human with everyone else. We have 
to find what each of us can do and do that to the best of our ability. We are 
inter-dependent. `I lean on you, You draw strength from me, Together there is 
nothing that we cannot do', " she quoted.

We were treated to some musical items performed by an orchestra composed of 
blind musicians and a blind lady sang. The Sri Lanka Council for the Blind 
broke new ground by choosing to honour two "disabled-friendly employers" on 
this occasion. They were Factory Director of CEI Plastics Ltd., Piliyandala, 
Anver Dole and Ananda Wijesuriya of Oxley Thread Company Ltd., who were 
felicitated and presented with a plaque each, in appreciation of their 
commendable example in giving employment to sightless women and men.

Lion Kamal Senevirathne gave the keynote address in which he outlined the work 
done by the International Association of Lions to empower the disabled. He also 
pinned Lion badges on Mrs. Jegarajasingam, Mr. Hettiarachchi, Mrs. Kamala 
Xavier and Mr. R.M.H.G. Gunaratna. Twenty cassette radios and 25 "talking" 
wrist-watches were distributed to blind students from all parts of the country. 

Earlier on, we were shown a short video of local white cane users walking on 
pavements and on uneven ground by "tap-tapping" their way as they went. They 
even confidently boarded buses and alighted from them without human aid. I 
learned that "handicaps", as we call them, are mostly in the minds of people 
and that what the disabled most want is the chance to lead productive lives, 
like everyone else.

By Anne Abayasekara


http://www.sundaytimes.lk/071028/Plus/plus00013.html
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