Events Roundup from the Week

Posted by Carl Augusto on 10/15/2009 12:17:41 PM

This week, there are a couple of important events taking place around the world. Today is White Cane Safety Day—the day we celebrate the achievements of people with vision loss and recognize the importance of being able to travel safely and independently. The white cane has become an important international symbol of independence, as it enables those of us who are blind or visually impaired to get around without sighted assistance. In honor of this day, we are making the chapter on mobility from The Unseen Minority: A Social History of Blindness in the United States free for the month of October. The chapter covers dog guides as well as canes. In addition, the World Blind Union released a statement that addresses some of the currently mobility challenges, including hybrid/quiet vehicles and the "shared space" urban design concept that involves the removal of curbs, lines, signs, and signals. We encourage you to take a look at the WBU statement when you have a moment.

The other event taking place this week is National Aging in Place Week—a time to think about how to continue to live independently and comfortably at home as you age. Since most of us want to continue living at home into our late years, it's important to learn how to adapt our spaces to make them safer and easier to navigate. Here at AFB, we created a web site for seniors with age-related vision loss and their family members that tackles this very issue. On AFB Senior Site, older Americans and their loved ones can learn how to make their homes more vision loss-friendly. If you, or anyone you know, has been diagnosed with an age-related eye condition, please send them on the AFB Senior Site.

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