White Cane Safety Day PR

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                              Contact:       Shoshana Hebshi
Oct. 15, 2009                                                                                                        515.281.1338
White Cane Safety Day celebrates blind awareness
 
DES MOINES, IA – In 1963, President Lyndon Johnson signed a joint congressional resolution proclaiming Oct. 15 White Cane Safety Day. The moment was in keeping with the rise in the civil rights movement, as it aimed to bring public awareness to blindness across the country.
 
In honoring White Cane Safety Day in 2009, the Iowa Department of the Blind continues to provide public education on blindness around the state, and it will celebrate its 50th anniversary of providing services to blind and visually impaired Iowans in its building and around the state at the end of the month.
 
The iconic white cane is the universal symbol for blindness. It signifies independence, mobility and confidence. As a person with vision loss learns the skills of cane travel, he or she is then able to move about more easily, thereby leading a more fulfilling and successful life. The Iowa Department for the Blind serves to enhance these skills and boost confidence so its clients can get back to school, work or whatever they may have left off doing when they became blind.
 
In Iowa, about 69,000 people have experienced significant vision loss. Not all are completely blind, as they do have some vision. But the non-visual techniques and skills taught through the Department have helped even those with some remaining vision understand that using vision as a primary sense is not always the best option.
 
“Over the past 50 years we have proven thousands of times that with the proper training and opportunities, blind people can work at regular jobs, raise families, run for public office, volunteer, take leadership roles in their communities and civic organizations, and do anything else they want to do,” said Karen Keninger, director of the Department for the Blind.
 
Through the Department’s library, vocational rehabilitation and independent living services, orientation center and business enterprises program, thousands of Iowans have been able to get their lives back on track while also dispelling myths of blindness.
 
For more information about the Iowa Department for the Blind, contact Shoshana Hebshi, communications specialist, at (515) 281-1338 or Shoshana.Hebshi@blind.state.ia.us.
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