You can slow it down, speed it up, and skip forward. The Utah State Office of Rehabilitation estimates 15,000 to 20,000 Utahns are legally blind. The newspapers are just another way they can be independent, Gardner said. That kind of independence will be celebrated during White Cane Day today. Governor Mike Leavitt will sign a proclamation Thursday heralding the independence of the blind and visually impaired.
White canes are about inch in diameter and made of aluminum, graphite, or fiberglass.
They generally extend to a person's shoulder, a length that allows a blind person to walk at a normal pace with time to react if the cane hits an obstacle. Robert A. Day, a state orientation and mobility specialist, said white canes may be simple and inexpensive, but they give mobility. They allow people to go to the grocery store, go to work, feed their family. They allow blind people to get along as well as anybody. Dr. Richard Hoover developed the modern white cane during World War II when soldiers came home blind and wanted independence.