WHITE CANE DAY - WHITE STICK AS SYMBOL OF BLINDNESS -HISTORY

An Englishman and a Frenchwoman both claim to have originated the idea.

1921 - James Biggs of Bristol (as he claims in New Beacon article, Dec.
1937, pp. 320/321) thought of idea of painting his stick white -- wrote to
various institutions, Chief Constables, newspapers, magazines, etc...

1930 - First reference in New Beacon (December, p. 265) to white stick - "In
Paris, the Prefect of Police is supporting the idea that blind pedestrians
shall carry white sticks"

1931 - February - Mlle Guilly d'Herbemont, with the assistance of one of the
editors of l'Echo de Paris launched national white stick movement in France.

1931 - Taken up by British Press - West Ham Rotary Club's offer to supply
white sticks to blind people in the area accepted - in May, the BBC
broadcast the suggestion that all blind persons should be provided with a
white stick, which should be nationally recognised by the public

1932 - National Institute for the Blind started stocking and selling white
sticks

WHITE CANE SAFETY DAY

By provision of P.L. 88-628, 88th Congress, 2d Session, October 15 to be
proclaimed each year by the President of the United States as White Cane
Safety Day. First such proclamation issued by Lyndon B. Johnson on October
6, 1964. (Ref.: NOB, Dec. 1964, 58 (10), 332.)

October 15, 1970 was declared International White Cane Safety Day for the
first time by the President of the International Federation of the Blind.
This date was adopted at the first quinquennial convention of the IFB, held
in Colombo on October 4, 1969. (Ref.: Braille International, July 1971,
4(2), 14-18.)

First celebrated in United Kingdom 15 October 1979. (Ref.: New Beacon,
September 1979, 63(749), 232.)

******



(Viewpoint, June 1991)

The White Cane - A Commemoration by Dr. A Mutter

(Editor's note)

The white cane is now recognised as the blind person's mobility aid the
world over. Ever since US President Lyndon S. Johnson first proclaimed it in
1964, "White Cane Day" has become the day of the year to publicise the needs
and achievements of blind people everywhere. What follows is an appreciation
of Peguilly d'Herbemont, the French woman who was responsible for
introducing the white cane 60 years ago. She was a lady of French high
society who devoted much of her time and fortune to the welfare of the
blind. The writer of the article, himself blind, taught for a time in the
mid-30s at Worcester College for the Blind, later joining the German
Diplomatic Service and finishing up as First Secretary to the German
Legation in Berne, Switzerland. The article is reproduced by kind permission
of the German Federation of the Blind, in whose organ it first appeared in
January of this year. It is based on a book commemorating the originator of
the white cane who died in her 92nd year, on 28th February 1980, by Mireille
Oblin-Briere who met our heroine towards the end of her long life. She was
so moved by her story that she set it down before her memories faded
altogether and her papers and records were lost to the world.

Peguilly d'Herbemont was born on 25th June 1888 into an old French noble
family of the same name. In her youth she led the conventional and protected
existence, devoid of great activity, of a girl from a "good family", an
existence reminiscent of the life of the aristocracy before the French
Revolution. She never visited a public school, but was educated by German
and English governesses and convent sisters. Her movements were restricted
and were mainly confined to the family positions in Paris and Belgium, but
she spent most of her time at the castle of Charmois not far from Verdun. A
lyrical strain in her nature led her to write quite sensitive poetry,
reminiscent of Verlaine. Her biographer sees their origin in a secret love
affair which was never revealed. In time, this became subsumed by a
passionate love of nature and the sympathy to her less favoured fellow human
beings.

In the process of helping individual blind people across the road,
Mademoiselle d'Herbemont was made aware by narrow scrapes which almost led
to accidents, of the precarious situation of the visually impaired brought
about by the steadily increasing traffic on the roads. She first spoke about
measures to protect the blind against street hazards to her mother in 1930,
but she was of the opinion that it was unfit for a lady of good society to
create a public outcry and advised her to stick to the transcription of
books, a popular pastime of ladies of rank at the time.

But the idea did not leave her. The urgent wish to encourage the integration
of the blind into society by providing them with a means of moving about
more freely without endangering others, and at the same time attracting the
attention of passers-by ready to offer assistance, caused her to take the,
for her class, unusual step of writing to the editor of the Paris daily
"Echo de Paris" in which she suggested issuing the blind of the Paris region
with white sticks similar to those used by the traffic police.

The editor took up the idea, published it in November 1930 and saw to it
that the relevant authorities acted with atypical speed. Thus it was that
the white cane received official backing, and on 7th February 1931 Peguilly
d'Herbemont, during a small celebration in the presence of the minister of
war, Maginot, as well as the ministers of education and health, was able to
present the President of the French Blind Veterans and a representative of
the civilian blind each with a white stick as a first step of its
recognition as the official means of protection in traffic.

The occasion and the idea provoking it received great public attention from
the press. On the one hand the idea, while not exactly ingenious, had to be
conceived; on the other, the matter was ridiculed by suggesting that the
victims of marital infidelity should be issued with yellow canes because
their distraught feelings might put them at risk in traffic. But there was
general agreement that this was an altruistic gesture at a time of ruthless
competition and unlimited pleasure seeking.

Each middle has its reverse side. Peguilly d'Herbemont was not destined to
rest easy on the fruits of her ingenuity. Whereas the emphasis on the war
veterans and the restriction to Paris and the Department Seine were
undoubtedly intended to be a beginning only, nation-wide protests soon
started to the effect that all French blind should be issued with a white
cane and that the employment of the blind was also a 'field of honour' .

A few weeks after the introduction of the white cane a tragic accident
helped to complicate matters. The attempt of crossing the Champs-Elysées
along the pedestrian strip under the protection of a white cane ended in a
fatal accident, when Doctor Racine was run over and fatally injured by a
wild-cat driver. Doctor Racine had just qualified as a medical practitioner
after many years and left a mother and a wife with two children without
means of subsistence.



Left extremist circles tried to exploit the situation by ascribing the fault
to the white cane and to make political capital out of the contrast between
the needy blind and the prosperous initiator of the white cane.

Despite a serious illness - a tubercular infection which caused her to seek
a cure in Montana for four years - she returned to her life's work of
distributing white canes wherever she could. In gratitude for a successful
operation in Lausanne, Switzerland, she distributed 100 white canes to blind
people of the Canton in 1938, and initiated the introduction of a new symbol
of blindness in a country where hitherto only the yellow arm band had been
recognised. Over the years, the blind person's cane has changed shape and
size, material of construction and method of use, but not colour. Peguilly
d'Herbemont, who avoided publicity all her life, received many private
expressions of gratitude; in 1947 she was decorated with the Legion of
Honour, and in 1976 received the Freedom of the City of Paris.

(New Beacon, September 1979)

¨ October 15, White Cane Day in many countries is to be celebrated this year
for the first time in the United Kingdom. The object of the exercise is to
stimulate the general public to a better understanding of blindness and
visual handicap, and to make people more aware of the white cane as a
mobility aid.

***************************

(New Beacon, December 15th 1937)

HOW I OVERCAME MY BLINDNESS."

This series of articles is intended to show how the many difficulties
attendant on blindness can be overcome in following various occupations and
professions

IV.- An ex-Photographer

By James Biggs

Before I can tell you how I have tried to overcome the handicap of
blindness, I must tell you something of my tastes and habits before I lost
my sight. As a youngster I was very keen on athletics (gymnasium, cycling,
swimming, rowing, etc.), and I helped to start the Y.M.C.A. Swimming and
Chess Clubs, Winning medals and prizes in various events. Despite these
sporting proclivities, however, it was decided that music should be my
profession. Organ pedals were fitted to my piano for home practice, and at
the age of 22 I obtained Royal Academy diplomas for both piano playing and
teaching, and organised concerts and played a good deal in public. In turn I
became organist and deputy organist at two or three city churches.
Nevertheless, I was destined for another profession. Amateur photography had
always occupied a good deal of my spare time and gradually I drifted into
professional photography. I began by doing trade work and corporation work;
I took series of photographs for contractors erecting large buildings, for
libraries, for a University from foundation to completion, in fact all kinds
of technical and general work. Eventually I became manager of the
photographic department of a very large firm, and later still a firm's
operator traveller, taking military groups, hospitals, etc., and undertaking
all kinds of photography up and down the country for three provincial
newspapers, which meant travelling from Leeds to Plymouth and from London to
Tenby and most of the towns between.

It was about this time that the "crash" came. Whilst taking the place of a
man at the Front employed by a Leeds firm, I received accidentally a violent
blow in the right eye, which resulted in detachment of the retina and after
several weeks in hospital, the sight of this eye went completely. I carried
on for some six months, when the other eye became affected, and altogether I
was nearly eight months on my back with scarcely any movement. The sight
ultimately went from that eye also, and for a time this seemed the end of
things. A "black-out"! Up against a stone wall, at a "dead-end." It seemed
terrible at the time, and I knew then why many commit suicide in similar
circumstances. But after sympathetic talks with the kindly house surgeon
and the practical advice of a cheerful Grenadier Guardsman who had also
become blind, I determined to make the best of a bad job, take a firm grip
of things and "carry on. " The soldier said" What's the use to worry? There
are scores worse off than you, however bad it seems now. You may be poor,
but you can be happy. Worrying won't make things better. Try to see all the
fun you can in everything, and above all, don't bleat your troubles to other
people they've got enough of their own." All this was splendid counsel, and
I followed it. It reminds one of the very practical Americanism "Quit
squawking." This saying, by the way, was quoted recently by a noted London
preacher on the Radio.

It was now just like beginning life all over again, but I formed many new
friendships, and after a time things gradually settled down. The soldier had
taught me the Braille alphabet, and still taking his advice, I got cheerful
yarns from the splendid assortment of books in the National Library. It is
not fully appreciated what a blessing to the blind community this library
is, with its vast variety of books on innumerable subjects. The only
improvement I can suggest is that many of the "maudlin,'' miserable,
depressing tales should be burned. The blind want cheerful reading and not
doleful, dreary stuff.

Another piece of the soldier's advice was: "Try to cultivate independence.
Go out by yourself as much as possible. Going about with others makes you
lose your nerve when alone." Soon after starting on my travels, it occurred
to me that if my stick were painted white it would help matters. So I tried
it, and the result was eminently satisfactory. I advised others to do the
same, and those who did so found equal benefit. Then I started writing about
white sticks to various institutions, to Chief Constables, newspapers,
magazines, motor journals M.P.'s, including the Minister of Transport; then
to newspapers abroad, in Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand,
France, Egypt and other countries; also to the Safety First Association, to
Rotary Clubs and similar organisations; and I got the BBC to broadcast the
idea. The organisations I have mentioned took the matter up so heartily that
the white stick movement rapidly spread, for whoever tried the white stick
found it most useful, and now, after 17 years, white sticks are in use over
a large part of the world, and at least 35 per cent of the British blind are
making use of them. It is very gratifying to me to see the scheme spreading
and I receive many letters from those who have proved the value of the white
stick. Strange as it may seem, some sections of the blind appear to object
to it at first, but when they have given it a trial they are as keen as
anyone.

In addition to being totally blind, I am stone-deaf in the left ear, and
suffer from vertigo which tends to make me always veer to the left in
walking, and a few years ago, to make matters still worse, a severe attack
of sciatica came on, making movement extremely difficult. After trying many
so-called cures, including an expensive course of electrical treatment,
without effect, my son, who is in the Navy, suggested physical exercise in
the form of "army jerks," moderate at first but gradually increasing, and
carried out regularly night and morning. This effected a complete cure, and
I am now able to do my old trick of holding out a bucket of coal or water at
arm's length on my little finger. Not bad for all old crock of 70! I have
been asked to demonstrate these exercises to other sufferers, who derive
benefit from them.

A matter regarding myself that I have never heard other blind people speak
of is this. When I am asleep, sight is fully restored to me in dreams.
Recent incidents and those of years ago are brought vividly to life. Light
and colour are there as distinct as when sighted. Old friends are
recognised, street scenes, buildings, etc. The anxiety of steering the choir
through a difficult anthem, pulling out the stops and turning over the pages
of music, or dodging about getting the best position for some royal
procession, everything is seen clearly and distinctly. I wonder if other
blind people get this sensation, and I also wonder what people who have
never seen dream about.



Let me mention one or two of my "gadgets." For accurate timing I have a
cheap metal clock with the glass removed, and little blob of solder put on
the rim opposite 12, 3, 6 and 9, with file marks by the other figures. If
the clock is hung on a curved dresser hook by your favourite seat and hung
on the bed rail at night, you can get the time to a minute and correct it by
the radio. And what a God-send the radio is! An ever-ready companion,
waiting at an instant's notice to read to you, lecture to you on travel and
all manner of useful subjects, and supply you with a never ending selection
of music. I often hear piano pieces that I used to struggle with,
faultlessly rendered on the exquisite studio pianos, to say nothing of the
scores of records. Sighted people do not know the value of the radio to the
blind.

For ordinary correspondence I have had made a light wooden frame to fit over
a Braille writing-frame with 22 piano wires stretched about half an inch
apart and a little above the surface of the paper. This prevents the
breaking of the pencil point and the wires "give" for h's or g's.

Chess and cards are useful for spare time, and I now practise hands of "long
crib" when alone. This is better than "Patience." Instead of using 5 or 6
cards as in ordinary crib, we tried 9, later 12 and after discarding 4 and
turning up 1, you have 9 cards to count. The highest you can have in
ordinary crib is 29, but in the 12 you may hold anything from 4 to 180. This
makes it most interesting.

In getting about I have made many new friends, and some say, "You always
seem very cheerful, but then you have nothing to worry about, I suppose."
They spoke truly," You seem so cheerful."If they only knew! But trying to
cultivate that spirit of cheerfulness is the only way to keep going. Keep
your mind occupied with something all the time, and don't brood over your
troubles. Get out in God's fresh air as much as possible. "Quit squawking"
and always carry a White stick! And finally, just think over this little
quotation: "Turn your face to the sunshine and the shadows will fall
behind."

(From RNIB reference library information file)