12th annual White Cane Awareness Day features talk and walk

BRATTLEBORO — The 12th annual White Cane Awareness Day event will take place Tuesday, Oct. 15, at 118 Elliot from 10 a.m. to noon to celebrate the white cane as a symbol of independence and self-reliance for those who are blind or have low vision.

The event will begin with a welcome talk by Dan Norris, director of adult services and deaf/blind consultant for the Vermont Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

Norris will introduce guest speakers Michael Goldberg and Peter Elwell. Goldberg retired this year after 30 years as a vocational rehabilitation counselor with Vermont's Division for the Blind and Visually Impaired. Elwell, Brattleboro's town manager, has been working closely with the ADA Committee to make sure that the town is as accessible as possible.

Following the guest speakers, there will be instruction in being a sighted guide, as well as a walk along Main Street with optional blindfold. Those who would like to try walking under blindfold will be guided. Light refreshments will be available.

White Cane Safety Day was authorized 55 years ago by President Lyndon B. Johnson following advocacy by the National Federation of the Blind. The Presidential proclamation said, in part, that the annual reminder would make “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.”

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