Imagine trying to get around when you can't see — that's everyday life for thousands of visually impaired Southwest Floridians. And recently some people without that impairment experienced it on White Cane Day.
Lined up at Bell Tower Shopping Center and blindfolded, a group of local residents tried to walk in the public space. It was the first time since the pandemic that White Cane Day was held in a public area.
Lighthouse of Southwest Florida, sponsor of the annual event, provides services for the visually impaired. Much of the purpose of White Cane Day is to show people the importance of not stopping their vehicles inside of a crosswalk.
"Because if you're stopped in a crosswalk, even at a red light, we're impeding a person who's blind from safely crossing that crosswalk," Dotty St. Amand, Lighthouse Chief Executive Officer, said. "And it is the law that you stop and you yield to a person who has a white cane or a guide dog, and is navigating the intersections and roadways throughout our area."
Lighthouse said that almost 15,000 visually impaired people live in Lee County alone. Half are over the age of 65.
Fort Myers Mayor Kevin Anderson took part in White Cane Day.
"It was very enlightening, because those of us who do not have sight problems, we take it for granted that we can just move along confidently and without any real issues," he said.
Anderson added that walking around a shopping center with a blindfold and cane was more difficult than he expected.
"You don't have the normal gait because you don't have that confidence," he explained. "So you're walking much slower and much more deliberately, and you use different muscles. So you feel that even in your arm because of the way you hold the cane, and that was unexpected to me."
Thirteen-year-old Katie Feren also participated in White Cane Day. She is part of the Edison-Ford Winter Estates robotics team.
"You had to always be aware of y our surroundings and you had to picture what it was like," Feren said. "And you had to always, like, have the one motion going just so you don't run into anyone or anything. You're always hitting someone and you don't know if that's someone's foot or if that's a wall. And then you don't want to run into them."
Gwendolyn Salata is part of Democracy Watch in the FGCU Journalism program. She can be reached at gmsalata1366@eagle.fgcu.edu
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