White Cane Safety Day

I feel as though my vision diminishes as my age progresses. My once cat like night vision in conjunction with those details now lost to me are evidence for that dreaded condition called presbyopia ... or "old eyes".

There are others with much more serious sight deficits who must contend with mobility factors and functionality well beyond my comparatively meager complaints. These are the blind, the legally blind, and the almost blind. When I consider that with which these individuals must contend my complaints grow pale indeed.

Today is White Cane Safety Day, a national observance in the United States, happening each October 15 since 1964.

It recognizes achievements of people who are blind or visually impaired and that symbol of mobility many of them carry, the white cane.

President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the first White Cane Safety Day proclamation within hours of the passage of a joint resolution authorizing it on October 6, 1964. I was nine years old.