Honoring National White Cane Day | Envision Blog

Honoring National White Cane Day

By Beth Walker • Oct 25, 2024
A group of people standing in front of the art gallery.

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White Cane Day is a national holiday in October that aims to emphasize the critical role that the white cane plays in the lives of people who are blind or visually impaired (BVI), informing the public about its true significance. For people who are BVI, the white cane is an essential tool that offers independence and the ability to move freely and safely from place to place—whether it's at work, school, home, or in public areas.  

Before 1930, if a person who is BVI crossed a street and was hit, it would be deemed their fault. When the Peoria City Council passed the nation's first “white cane safety law” in 1930, it gave BVI citizens the right-of-way and other protections when it came to moving about in public.  

For the past three years, Envision has celebrated White Cane Day with a community walk in Wichita, KS. Envision Dallas has celebrated White Cane Day since 2010, honoring it this year by walking in unity around our new
and expansive building in Farmers Branch. Both events aimed not only to spread awareness about the importance of the white cane, but to bring employees, program participants, clients of services, donors, family members and friends together to share their stories.  

The annual walk in Wichita, Kan. brought over 100 people from the community of all ages, many of whom have visual impairments and have been past clients or program participants of Envision. Participants joined Envision in a walk around downtown Wichita, starting and ending at the Envision Arts Gallery. 

At the Envision Dallas celebration, informational booths were present with organizations such as Texas Health and Human Services Commission, New Vision Concepts, Foundation Fighting Blindness, Senior Assist Texas, Computers for the Blind and more. The Mayor of Farmers Branch, Terry Lynne, was also in attendance after recently reading a proclamation to the Farmers Branch City Council to officially recognize National White Cane Day. 

White Cane Day is a national holiday that has been and will continue to be an important holiday that Envision and Envision Dallas honors and celebrates with pride. We are grateful to everyone who helped us celebrate!