White Cane Safety Day: A Symbol of Independence

White Cane Safety Day: A Symbol of Independence

Future Reflections September- December 1983, Vol. 2 No. 5
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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 read: "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 union.
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 nations. 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 inextinquishable
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.
Marc is one of the bright, young leaders in the
National Federation of the Blind. He was born with a
visual handicap and became totally blind at age six. A
law school graduate, Marc currently has his own law
practice in Baltimore, Maryland. He and wife Pat are
expecting their first child this spring.
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