Lions to revive White Cane Day as part of Sight Month
A few years later, she learned to speak, and as an adult, she became a tireless advocate for people with disabilities.
The Lions Clubs of South Africa, through the Lions BrightSight initiative, are reviving White Cane Day (15 October) to raise awareness about blindness.
White Cane Day has been an October 15 observance in the United States since 1964 and is recognised globally today to celebrate the achievements of people who are blind or visually impaired and the important symbol of blindness and a tool of independence, the white cane.
According to Beaulieu Maré, spokesperson for the Gauteng-based Lions BrightSight, the theme of this year’s White Cane Day is ‘Tap into the Future, There are no Limits!’.
“We have officially named October Sight Month too, so not only will the Lions be raising awareness throughout the month, we will also be raising funds through the sale of special Lions BrightSight pins as part of White Cane Day.
“The pins are R10 each and every cent goes back into community projects to help people who are sight-impaired.”
An initiative of Multiple District 410 Lions, BrightSight provides corrective spectacles to underprivileged people throughout the country, as well as in neighbouring states.
Since its inception in July 1978, thousands of spectacles have been distributed to people, bringing smiles to the faces of senior citizens, children and indigents who would otherwise have gone through life with impaired vision.
The objectives of Lions BrightSight are: to receive prescriptions from Lions Clubs, provincial hospitals, optometric clinics and various other organisations (through a local Lions Club) and to process these scripts at low cost using new and pre-owned frames that are in excellent condition and fitted with new prescription lenses.
“Lions BrightSight is the Multiple District 410’s flagship project. We have re-introduced White Cane Day to highlight the needs of the visually impaired as well as to raise funds to assist those who have sight issues,” explained Beaulieu.
She encouraged local businesses to challenge each other by ordering White Cane Day pins for their staff or selling pins in-house in aid of their local Lions club, and for individuals to look out for Lions members out and about selling the pins on October 15.
Lions BrightSight can put people in touch with their local Lions Club or supply them pins directly.
For more information, email the management committee of Lions BrightSight on manco@lionsbrightsight.co.za.
Beaulieu explained that in 1925, Helen Keller attended the Lions Clubs International Convention and challenged the Lions to become “knights of the blind in the crusade against darkness.”
The Lions accepted her challenge and their work ever since has included sight programmes aimed at preventing blindness.
Keller developed a fever at 18 months of age that left her blind and deaf, but with the help of an exceptional teacher, Anne Mansfield Sullivan, of the Perkins School for the Blind, she learned sign language and braille.
