[tabi] White Cane Safety Day
- From: "Tinetta Cooper" <lilheart@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <tabi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 1 Oct 2010 11:41:25 -0400
I am forwarding this interesting message regarding White Cane Safety
Day. The Tallahassee NFB chapter and partner (Tallahassee Lions Club) will
participate in a demonstration of white cane use at the intersection of
Thomasville and Capitol Circle on October 15. The time is 2-4pm and we will
meet in the Publix parking lot. Anyone interested may join us for this
activity.
----- Original Message -----
From: Dwight Sayer
To: Mary Clark
Cc: nfbf-leaders@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Friday, October 01, 2010 11:08 AM
Subject: [NFBF-Leaders] Gubenitorial Proclamation Should Be Requested!!
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
__._,_.___
Reply to sender | Reply to group | Reply via web post | Start a New Topic
Messages in this topic (1)
Recent Activity:
Visit Your Group
Switch to: Text-Only, Daily Digest . Unsubscribe . Terms of Use.
__,_._,___
Other related posts:
