Proclamation 5730—White Cane Safety Day, 1987

The white cane is a device that helps blind citizens in their daily lives and reminds all Americans of visually handicapped people's desire and increasing ability to live independently. The cane helps its bearers negotiate physical obstacles and thus enables the sightless to travel and work more easily in the public environment. During our yearly observance of White Cane Safety Day, we pause to recall our need to eliminate barriers of misinformation and misunderstanding as well—to remember the capabilities and accomplishments of sightless people and to respond to their particular needs with sensitivity, friendship, and respect.

In acknowledgment of the white cane and all it symbolizes, the Congress, by joint resolution approved October 6, 1964, has authorized the President to designate October 15 of each year as "White Cane Safety Day."

Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim October 15, 1987, as White Cane Safety Day. I urge all Americans to show respect for those who carry the white cane and to honor their many achievements.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this fifteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twelfth.

RONALD REAGAN