White Stick Day
As the day of the white cane , blind associations around the world use October 15 to draw attention to an essential protective symbol for blind and visually impaired people, namely the " white long cane ".
The idea of providing blind people with a white stick as a protection and identification symbol came up around 1930 in Paris. It was created by Guilly d'Herbemont , who presented the first white sticks on February 7, 1931 in the presence of several ministers and representatives of organizations for the blind. The white cane was then officially recognized as protection and identification for blind people.
On October 15, 1964, during a reception , US President Lyndon B. Johnson gave long sticks to blind or visually impaired people in a symbolic act to popularize them. Since then, this day has been the starting signal for the systematic orientation and mobility training with the white cane for the blind. Training and long stick were developed and standardized by Richard Edwin Hoover , which is why the stick was initially called the Hoover cane .
In 1969 the United Nations called "International White Stick Day" into being, which is celebrated on October 15th. In the years that followed, the white cane experienced an unimaginable spread. With a long stick and a corresponding mobility training, more and more blind and visually impaired people were able to tackle the great challenge of being on the road alone.
Web links
- White Stick Day during the annual "Week of Seeing" in Germany
- Professional association of rehabilitation workers for people with visual impairment or blindness (Austria)
- Federal Association of Rehabilitation Teachers for the Blind and Visually Impaired e. V. (Germany)
- German Association of the Blind and Visually Impaired (DBSV)
- Swiss Central Association for the Blind (SZB)
- Swiss Association of the Blind and Visually Impaired (SBV)
- A white cane for every child (Anderessehen eV)
- Instructions for children's full long pole