WHITE CANE SAFETY DAY: October 15
White Cane Safety Day has been celebrated around the world on October 15 of each year since its formal declaration in the United States in 1964. The date is set aside to celebrate the achievements of people who are blind or visually impaired and the important symbol of blindness and its tool of independence, the white cane.
Even before the first formal declaration of White Cane Safety Day, the first local law regarding the right of people who are blind to travel independently with the white cane was passed in 1930 in Peoria, IL. In 1966, Dr. Jacobus tenBroek, the founder of the National Federation of the Blind, drafted the model White Cane Law, which came to be known as the Civil Rights Bill for the Blind, the Disabled, and the Otherwise Physically Handicapped. The original wording of his law contained 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 U.S.
In 1963, the National Federation of the Blind assembled in convention and voted to encourage governors of all fifty states to proclaim October 15 as White Cane Safety Day. In response, a joint resolution of the U.S. Congress (H.R. 753), authorizing the President of the United States to proclaim October 15 of each year as White Cane Safety Day, was signed into law the next year. Almost immediately, President Lyndon B. Johnson officially proclaimed the first White Cane Safety Day in 1964, commending those who were blind for their growing spirit of independence and their increased determination to be self-reliant. The Proclamation has continued every year since. In 2011, White Cane Safety Day was also named Blind Americans Equality Day by President Barack Obama.
The State of Texas also recognizes White Cane Safety Day each year on October 15 with a formal Proclamation signed by the Governor. Local committees and organizations across the state hold celebrations, festivals, and awareness-raising events.
Attributions:
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National Federation of the Blind: http://nfb.org/white-cane-
safety-day -
American Council of the Blind: http://www.acb.org/tennessee/
white_cane_history.html
Article from: Office of the Governor Rick Perry, Committee on People with Disabilities