Penny,
You sounded much angrier and more dismissisve of that white cane article in
your post to BARD Talk. I always thought that my husband, who was more
skilled with cane travel than anyone else I've ever encountered, would have
had a real problem using a guide dog because he was so tuned to his physical
environment and had such wonderful ability to use auditory cues, that I can
imagine him getting into an argument with his dog. But actdually, it seems
to me that each manner of traveling has its positives and negatives. No one
ever tried to keep me out of a restaurant when I used a cane, but that did
happen when I had my dog. And I was never refused entrance to a movie
theeater with a cane, but I was, when I traveled with my guide dog. And
although people may be ignoring the white cane, either through ignorance or
because of smart phone use, I discovered that having a guide dog robbed me
of personal privacy because people, in responding to the dog, felt entitled
to ask me all kinds of personal quesstions and to engage in conversation,
even as I was rushing to make a train or keep an appointment. The rudest of
the questions was, "How did you get like that?".
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Penny Reeder
Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2016 2:19 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: we get no respect these days
We've never gotten much respect. Honestly, I don't think things are any
worse today than they ever were -- and -- at least the kinds in the
Millennial Generation usually know what a white cane is and to some extent,
what it means. As for me, I'm happy to be traveling along with my
wagely-tail Seeing Eye Dog!
Penny
On 10/12/16, joe harcz Comcast <joeharcz@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
And I had British physician once ask upon seeing my cane, "Say, why
are you
carrying about with a billiard cue?"
----- Original Message -----
From: "Carl Jarvis" <carjar82@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "blind-democracy" <blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2016 11:25 AM
Subject: [blind-democracy] we get no respect these days
Hey, What's With the White Cane?.
Honest depictions of disabled people have vanished from popular
culture.. By Jim Knipfel . Oct. 15 is national White Cane Safety Day,
first decreed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. Never heard of
it? You're not alone. I'll admit, even as a blind man who uses a
white cane on a daily basis, Oct.
15 doesn't get my heart racing, save for one irony: It's not just the
day that Americans don't recognize; increasingly it's the white cane
and what it symbolizes. Think of it as another kind of blindness. I
began noticing the signs roughly seven years ago. My wife and I were
in New York City on a Saturday night, working our way down a crowded
sidewalk on our way to a show.
The going seemed unusually slow and frustrating, even for New York.
Soon the reason
was clear: No one was stepping out of the way to let us pass. Some
were transfixed by cellphones, but others looked directly at us,
looked at my cane with some confusion, and still refused to take a
step in either direction.
I soon realized that many people under the age of 35, not just in New
York City, but across the country, no longer know what a white cane
represents.
On more than one occasion, people in their 20s have approached me and
asked, "What's that cane for? For millennia the blind have used canes
and staffs as navigational tools to help detect obstacles in our
path. After World War II, with so many blind veterans returning home,
the standard cane design was refashioned. Mobility sticks grew longer
and were wrapped in red and white reflective tape. By the time LBJ
made his 1964 declaration, the white cane was an accepted part of the
culture. So how could a symbol of disability as common as the
wheelchair so abruptly vanish from our collective consciousness? A
friend has a theory. In the 1980s and '90s, as political correctness
began infiltrating popular culture, it became verboten to portray the
disabled, particularly the blind, in anything perceived to be an
unflattering light. In a blink, bumbling characters with white canes,
once a mainstay of slapstick films, cartoon shorts and comic strips,
vanished. What blind characters we did get now had superpowers or
were masters of the martial arts, and rarely had any use for a white
cane, even as a signifier. As a result, children who once grew up
with images of characters with white canes no longer saw them, and so
the common understanding of the blind and our symbology began to
fade. Questions of "dignity," "respect"
and "inclusion" aside, expunging blind characters from pop culture
for fear of offending someone has had dangerous repercussions when it
comes to the daily lives of blind Americans. If fewer and fewer
people recognize its meaning, what use does the cane maintain as a
symbol directed at the sighted? Pedestrians who once stepped out of
the way are now occasionally hostile obstacles. And with hybrid and
electric cars growing quieter, walking just a few blocks in a
well-known neighborhood can become a perilous journey. Despite all
the far-reaching achievements of the Americans with Disabilities Act,
the tool that I and other blind Americans have trusted to give us
some modicum of protection and visibility is fast losing all meaning.
Ironically, the best way for us to mark White Cane Safety Day may
well be to stay home. Mr.
Knipfel, a former staff writer for the New York Press, is the author
of "Residue" (Red Hen Press, 2015). .
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