The following story was taken from the DARS - Division for Blind Services web page.
The Dallas region's celebration of White Cane Day 2007 exploded with a star-spangled array of enthusiastic participants gathered in the atrium of the Dallas Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
Our DBS program areas were well represented with staff, consumers, and their families. Other participants at this year's event included representatives from the American Council of the Blind of Texas, the American Foundation for the Blind, Crystal Vision, the Blinded Veterans Association, Computers Made Easy, Dallas VA Medical Center Visual Impairment Services, the Dallas Lighthouse, Prevent Blindness Texas, Lion's Sight and Tissue Foundation, Reading Radio Resource, REACH of Dallas Resource Center on Independent Living, and the UT Southwestern Medical Center.
At high noon, the event culminated with an all-American lunch of hamburgers and hotdogs served by members of the Lion's Club and the Blinded Veterans Association. The group's pledge on White Cane Day -- and every day of the year -- is to combat the tyranny of dependence and prejudice that results from stereotypes and other uneducated concepts about blindness and, by actively promoting community awareness and knowledge about blindness, to help the sighted community understand and appreciate the true abilities and capabilities of people who are blind or visually impaired.
The following is a short poem I composed to describe the meaning of this year's White Cane Day celebration at the Dallas Veterans Affairs Medical Center. I hope it helps you better understand what White Cane Day really means in the Dallas region.
The Spirit of White Cane Day
O, say can you see,
By the dawn's early light
The white canes all around
with their tips brightly gleaming?
It's a symbol with the score
Of the pride that we feel
Of our independence
From shore to shore.
This our symbol it's true
Like the red, white, and blue
Of our thirst for freedom.
Now what about you?
It's sleek and it's light,
It keeps our path burning bright.
O, say can you see
That white cane over there?
It means more than you thought,
Waving right through the air.