Podcast Summary:
White Cane Day 2025 at the Minnesota State Capitol was a celebration of pride, freedom, and possibility. Leaders, students, families, and blind, low vision, and deafblind Minnesotans gathered to affirm a simple truth: the white cane is not just a mobility tool — it is dignity, safety, and independence. Speakers honored the history of White Cane Safety Day, first recognized nationally in 1964, and reminded Minnesota that accessibility is a responsibility we all share. Youth and adults stood side by side to read the Governor’s proclamation declaring October 15, 2025 White Cane Safety Awareness Day in Minnesota, lifting up the right of every person to travel, work, learn, and live fully. Again and again the message was clear: this community is strong, joyful, and on the move. The white cane is confidence. It is opportunity. It is the key to adventure, employment, and everyday life — and it belongs in every space Minnesotans belong.
To find out more about the services provided at State Services for the Blind, and what they can do for you, contact Shane DeSantis at shane.desantis@state.mn.us or call Shane at 651-385-5205.
Full Transcript
{Music}
Jeff Thompson:
Welcome to the celebration of the 2025 White Cane Day at the Minnesota State Capitol.
Mackenzie Nolan:
Good morning everybody. Welcome to your public house. It is an honor to be here in the Capitol Rotunda with so many advocates, leaders, and community members celebrating White Cane Day.
Jeff Thompson:
With the partnership of State Services for the Blind of Minnesota and the Minnesota Department of Education along with many volunteers, community groups, and organizations. Coming together to make their voices heard.
Jordan:
On October 6, 1964, the United States Congress designated October 15th annually as White Cane Safety Day to recognize the contributions of Americans who are blind or visually impaired.
Sheila:
I’m so excited to be here on White Cane Day. It’s always a really cool experience to be here in our state Capitol. It’s really stepping into that sense of pride and empowerment to celebrate the tool of the White Cane.
DaWni:
Hi, I’m Dawni. I’m here for White Cane Day today because White Cane is a tool that is really important to me and I value how it helps me get around and exist normally.
George:
Hi, my name is George Husted. I am an SCA with a young, incredibly smart young man. His name is Jordan and we help each other learn and it’s been an awesome experience. This will be my second year at White Cane Day and we are super excited to be here.
Melissa Hatfield:
This is Mellissa Hatfield. I am a Orientation and Mobility Specialist intern, and very excited to be at the Capital for White Cane Day. Just to be able to support our community and their white canes. And, celebrating the ability to teach skills to all to be able to travel independently.
Elly:
I came to White Cane Day because I want to be a part of the blind community. I think it’s a very important day and to see all the different resources that are out here for us. Yeah
Stanley:
I came to White Cane Day because this is my first experience of going blind and I wanted to see all the accessibility and see our community at work coming together. White Cane Day represents freedom so that I can go anywhere and be as independent as possible by myself.
Student 5:
Why I’m here for White Cane Day is to support the White Cane community.
Deanna:
My name is Deanna Langton and I’m a counselor with Minnesota State Services for the Blind and I work with youth in the metro area and today’s White Cane Day and this is my first time participating in an event like this so I’m excited to be here celebrating the day with everyone.
Preston:
White Cane Day, I like that we proclaim it as a country because it honors the accomplishments and abilities of people who use the White Cane and even more than that it helps honor to people that don’t. The significance of the White Cane helps remind White Cane laws and just gives us an opportunity to connect.
Sheila Koenig:
My name is Sheila Koenig. I’m the Youth Services Manager at State Services for the Blind and I am really really happy to be able to be here with you to celebrate this fabulous day. I want to start by giving a big thank you to all of the state agencies, advocacy organizations, teachers, volunteers, students, interpreters, everyone who showed up here today.
Thank you so much.
[APPLAUSE, WHISTLING]
Sheila:
I absolutely love this day. I love celebrating White Cane Day because I use a White Cane myself and I have learned that the White Cane is a tool that helps me to just be in the spaces I want to be, to go the places where I’d like to go to live the kind of life that I want to live.
Whether it’s taking a trip with a friend or going to a camp to learn about triathlons or going to see concerts like On the One in Bloomington or a concert on Nicolette Mall, I know that using this cane enables me to go wherever I want to go and I feel such a sense of pride and independence and I’m so excited to share that all with you. So thank you again for being here.
[APPLAUSE]
I’d like to introduce from the Governor’s Office Mackenzie Nolan and fun fact before I started working at State Services for the Blind, I was an English teacher out at Southview Middle School and Mackenzie was one of my students. So I am so happy to introduce Mackenzie to all of you.
Mackenzie Nolan:
Good morning everybody. Welcome to your public house.
It is an honor to be here in the Capitol with so many advocates, leaders and community members celebrating White Cane Day, a day that honors independence, safety and the right of all Minnesotans to navigate their world freely and confidently. I want to first begin by recognizing the work of State Services for the Blind and thank them for leading today’s celebration and for the powerful work they do every single day to make Minnesota a place where everyone belongs.
White Cane Day is more than a symbolic moment, it’s a celebration of independence and it’s a reminder that with the right tools, training and community support, people who are blind, deafblind or low vision can travel safely, work, learn and live full lives.
The White Cane represents dignity, agency and safety. It also represents the responsibility we share as neighbors and as policymakers to ensure our communities are designed for everyone. Governor Walz and Lieutenant Governor believe deeply that accessibility and inclusion are at the heart of public safety, public health and community well-being. That’s why we continue working to strengthen access to transportation, to education and employment opportunities, to make Minnesota a national leader in disability rights and accessibility innovation.
That commitment includes working across generations, celebrating the accomplishments and leadership of our youth and centering families and children who are blind or have vision loss. We do this by maximizing each child’s skills, independence and opportunities as they grow because we hold high expectations for every child and student in Minnesota and we believe every young person can reach their dreams and embark on their own independent journey.
Mackenzie Nolan:
In fact, a few months ago our office partnered with State Services for the Blind to welcome families and youth who represented Minnesota for the first time in state history at the Brown Challenge National Championship. Right? Yeah, let’s do it.
[APPLAUSE]
Mackenzie Nolan:
The Lieutenant Governor had the joy of presenting each student with personalized certificates in both print and braille to honor their achievements and celebrate the importance of braille literacy and youth leadership. In fact, I saw Elizabeth here earlier.
And I saw Matthew too who also was in the Minnesota Braille Challenge.
So today I want to close with similar message of celebration and empowerment to every user of the White Cane. We honor the confidence, safety and independence it represents and we encourage people of all ages to embrace the power of the White Cane, to assert your right to move freely, to navigate your community safely and to know that the state of Minnesota moves alongside you in that journey. I also want to take a moment to thank the Minnesota Department of Transportation for hosting a portion of today’s event and for their continued leadership in creating and maintaining safe roadways and traffic crossings. MnDOT’s commitment goes beyond meeting ADA compliance.
Mackenzie Nolan:
They are intentional about ensuring the best practices are informed by lived experience. This kind of collaboration, rooted in partnership and respect is what truly advances safety, equity and independence for all Minnesotans.
So today as we honor the symbol of the White Cane and all it represents, we also recommit ourselves to building a Minnesota that values independence, inclusion and safety for all. So on behalf of Governor Tim Walz and Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan, I’m proud to present a proclamation declaring October 15th, 2025 as White Cane Safety Awareness Day in the state of Minnesota, which will be read by several students who will be up here in just a moment. Thank you all so very much.
[APPLAUSE]
Speaker 7:
On October 6th, 1964, the United States Congress designated October 15th annually as White Cane Safety Day to recognize the contributions of Americans who are blind or visually impaired.
Speaker 8:
Whereas the White Cane makes it possible for the blind to fully live the lives they want and allows every blind person to move freely and safely from place to place and
Speaker 9:
whereas the White Cane, which everyone blind person in Minnesota has the right to create, demonstrates the ability to achieve a full independence, life and the positive to work particularly in competitive employment and
Speaker 10:
whereas there are an estimated 84,000 Minnesotans who are blind or visually impaired, many of whom travel with a White Cane and
Speaker 11:
whereas Minnesota law also calls upon employers both public and private to be aware of and use the employment skills of about and visually impaired Minnesotans and
Speaker 12:
whereas White Cane Safety Awareness Day in Minnesota celebrates the accomplishments of people who are blind and visually impaired and honors the tool of independence that is the White Cane. Now therefore we students who are White Cane users do hereby proclaim Wednesday October 15th, 2025 as White Cane Safety Awareness Day in Minnesota.
[APPLAUSE]
Jeff Mihelich:
My name is Jeff Mihelich. I am the Vice President of the American Council of the Blind of Minnesota. We are the Minnesota chapter of the American Council of the Blind.
We are one of the I would say two major consumer groups in the country. We advocate for policies that benefit the blind low vision community. Here in Minnesota we have quarterly luncheon business meetings that we hold where we have a speaker to talk about various topics that help out our community.
We also have a quite active subcommittee for legislative affairs and that committee more directly interacts with lawmakers and other advocates to move forward legislation and policy that benefits us. The American Council of the Blind also has a national conference every year this coming summer if we can think about getting past our winter. This coming summer the Council of the Blind National Conferences in St. Louis the very last week of July.
Jeff Mihelich:
So plan your calendars now if we all survive our winter it’s something to look forward to. And if you would like to reach out to us we would love to invite you to attend our next quarterly meeting which is the end of October. It’ll be at Joseph’s Bar and Grill in St. Paul just the other side of Wabasha Bridge. If you reach out to us we would be happy to have you join us. We would pick up the cost of your dinner for that first meeting. So we have a table over there to my right otherwise our web address is acb minnesota spelled out dot o-r-g and with that I am going to introduce Steve Jacobson. He is with the National Federation of the Blind. Thank you very much.
Steve Jacobson:
Good morning everyone. My name is Steve Jacobson. I’m representing the National Federation of the Blind and I want to extend comments from our President Corbb O’Conner who is unable to be here today. Like Jeff we also have a state convention.
Ours is in Rochester in November and a national convention next year will be in Austin Texas in July and we also also do a lot of advocacy and public policy work.
However, I wanted to ask a question with my time today. Why are we here today? I’d like to offer an answer in the next few minutes that may actually surprise you some.
I have worked with computers in information technology for almost 50 years now.
Yeah, I know. That makes me an old guy. During that time, I’ve seen and worked with a lot of new technologies. I’ve used Braille embossers, Braille displays, Braille translators, screen readers, talking terminals, several different speech synthesizers, and even an opticon to do some reading.
Steve Jacobson:
I could list more, but I don’t want to use up all my time on my list. One of the most significant pieces of technology that has helped me succeed is my white cane. My white cane provides a way for me to travel independently.
As do guide dogs for those who choose to use a dog. It helped me get a good education and to get me to and from work. I didn’t have to find any students going to the same class or coworkers going to the same meeting because I knew I could handle it myself with my white cane.
It opened up my ability to travel to many interesting places and much more. My cane means independence to me. However, it wasn’t always that way for me, and it wasn’t always that way for blind people. During the first half of the 1900s, blind people tended to use a short cane, holding it vertically to follow the edges of the sidewalk. Within the same period of time, guide dogs started to become an option as well.
Steve Jacobson:
Those were both steps in the right direction. The high number of blinded veterans that came home from World War II caused the veterans’ hospitals to help develop the techniques with longer canes that we use today. This combination of longer canes and new techniques was far superior for detecting obstacles and stairs, and it’s mighty handy to know where those stairs going down are.
This was a large step forward. In 1964, Congress passed a joint resolution authorizing President Johnson to proclaim October 15th as White Cane Safety Day throughout the whole country. A year later, he signed such a proclamation on national television with a representative of the National Federation of the Blind at his side.
Shortly after that, the NFB and other organizations initiated a campaign to get states to pass White Cane Laws, and one such law was passed right here in this building in 1969.
Steve Jacobson:
While that law gave the White Cane an official status, it really did far more than that. It also guaranteed access by blind persons using canes or dogs to public places and to services such as buses and trains.
It gave us many of the same guarantees that the Americans with Disabilities Act gave us, but it gave them to us 20 years sooner.
By the early 1970s, White Cane Laws had been passed in 49 states. Since then, we have seen other useful high-tech travel solutions, but most warn us that while these aids enhance our travel experience, they do not replace the use of a White Cane or a guide dog. During the same time, improvements in cane technology have made it easier to use a cane.
Heavier metal canes have largely been replaced by lighter fiberglass or carbon fiber canes. We are finally emerging now from a time that was difficult for travel. Let’s use this gathering to proudly show and use our canes and our dogs to celebrate the independence that we did not always have. If you want to read more about the NFB of Minnesota, go to our webpage at www.nfbmn .org. Thank you.
Natasha Jerde:
Good morning, everyone.
My name is Natasha Jerde, and I am the Director of State Services for the Blind. At SSB, we talk a lot about things like meeting goals, finding jobs, and learning skills. Yeah, all of that is very important, but today I want to talk about something else. Today I want to talk about fun. In my book, fun is as important as all of those other very important things. Fun is what gives us joy.
Fun is what we look forward to, and fun gives us the energy to take on challenges, like finding a job or learning a skill. Think back to more than 100 years ago. The first dog guide school opened in Germany in 1916, and the movement to use a white cane began in England in the 1920s. Back then, blind, deafblind, and low vision people didn’t have many options for getting around on their own. Often they had to depend on friends and family. And also 100 years ago, cars were becoming very popular, and more cars on the road made it all the more difficult for low vision, deafblind, and blind folks to walk the street safely.
The movement to train dog guides and to develop the white cane grew out of a need for greater independence. Folks wanted to cross busy streets on their own, go to the store, and be able to travel for their job. They wanted to be able to do those things on their own, all of those practical things that are a necessary part of life. But something else was true for those first independent travel pioneers. They wanted opportunities to enjoy themselves.
If you read back in the official histories about dog guides and white canes, they may not mention this fact. But I believe it is true, because all of us want the chance to enjoy ourselves. It was just as true for people back then as it is for us today. We want fun. We want freedom. We want to discover new things. We want to go out and make friends. We want adventure. Dog guides and white canes brought about the possibility of more freedom and more fun. Now for millions of people, a dog guide or a white cane is not just a tool for independent travel.
They’re also a key to fun and discovery. The better your travel skills are, the more options you’ll have for going out and trying new things, going to new places, or taking on a new adventure. Maybe like me, you have the travel bug. That travel could take you on a canoe trip here in Minnesota, send you off to explore a new city here in the US, or even put you on a plane heading off to a country where everything is new and different.
For me, there are a few things more exciting than exploring a new place or learning about a different culture.
Every day, deafblind low vision and blind travelers experience that same joy of exploration and discovery because they have confidence in their ability to get around. We’re all in a choose your own adventure game called Life. Today, we celebrate the white cane and the dog guide as critical pieces for that great adventure. The planners of today’s White Cane Day celebration were thinking about fun and adventure when they put this program together. In just a couple of minutes, we’ll all be heading out with our white canes and our dog guides to go over to the Department of Transportation building. At MnDOT, there is a resource fair focused on games, sports, outdoor adventure, and lots more.
You can learn about beep baseball, sailing, or playing darts, among many other great options. And before we go, I want to thank everyone who has made this day possible. Thanks to the Minnesota Department of Education who partnered with us in planning this day. Thanks to all the volunteers and thanks to the community groups and organizations that are sharing resources. Finally, let me wish you a very happy White Cane Day.
Let’s celebrate independence. Let’s challenge ourselves to learn new skills. But most of all, let’s go have some fun.
[APPLAUSE]
Jill Westbury:
Hi, my name is Jill Westbury with the Minnesota Council on Disability. We are delighted to be here. MCD has been around for over 50 years. And we focus on policy advising, advancing legislation, and disability rights for people with disabilities or Minnesotans. And then we provide training, technical assistance, and outreach. We’re excited. This is our first time or ever participating in this and here at the Capitol. So we’re delighted to be here and will be here every year to participate if that’s the case.
Lisa Larges:
Hey, I’m Lisa Larges, and I am one of the outreach coordinators from State Services for the Blind. And I’m here with other staff from State Services for the Blind. They can say, hey.
Lisa Rogers:
Hey.
Lisa Larges:
That was Lisa Rogers. And we are so excited about celebrating White Cane Day because the customers that we serve who are low vision and deafblind and blind Minnesotans, many of them have access to independence and opportunity and so much more because of tools like the White Cane and the Guide Dog. And this is a day that’s all about freedom and independence. So we are really excited to find out what’s going to happen on White Cane Day 2025.
Susan Lubbers:
Hi, my name is Susan Lubbers. I am the Public Services and Outreach Librarian with the Minnesota Braille and Talking Book Library. And at the library we serve Minnesotans who are blind, have low vision or have difficulty reading standard print material because of a reading or physical disability. I am here today to show our new digital talking book player called the DA2 where you can listen to audio books and it connects to Wi-Fi and a downloadable account so you can download directly onto the device.
I’ve also got our other devices and sharing information about what we do here at the library. We have a toll free number. You can give us a call. It’s 1-800-722-0550. Or we do have an email address as well that you can email. It is mn.btbl at state.mn .gov to get ahold of us. And we do have a website as well where you can download an application for service if you’re not already a patron and if you’re interested.
Hailey Bird:
We’re here for White Cane Day. I’m Hailey Bird. I’m the Orientational Ability Specialist at Vision Loss Resources. VLR is a nonprofit in the Twin Cities and we service adults with vision loss or who are blind. We have different classes that we teach adjustment to blindness training and services. So we have cooking, Braille, tech, O &M. More than that, but we service people in Minnesota, mostly in the Twin Cities area.
{Music}
Jeff Thompson:
All the participants then headed over to the Department of Transportation, navigating streets, sidewalks, and crossings using their White Cane and guide dogs. Be sure to check out our next podcast about the exhibitors at the Department of Transportation. There is blind hockey, blind darts, blind sailing, O &M training, and even a Cane repair station. Check it out.
There’s something for everybody.
White Cane Day 2025 at the State Capitol and the Department of Transportation was a big hit for newcomers and those who have been around for quite a while.
To find out more about all the programs at State Services for the Blind, contact Shane.desantis at state.mn.us. That’s shane.d-e-s-a-n-t-i-s at state.mn.us
Jeff Thompson:
Be sure to contact your State Services for the Blind, your Voc Rehab and find out what they can do for you.
Live, work, read, succeed.
[Music] [Transition noise] –
When we share-
What we see
-Through each other’s eyes…
[Multiple voices overlapping, in unison, to form a single sentence]
…We can then begin to bridge the gap between the limited expectations, and the realities of Blind Abilities