We are once again going to tackle two topics! We thought it might be interesting to

talk about an issue that is not blindness-related. It may be a little scary for us to discuss this topic but we want to know if we are creating holidays or, I suppose, special days that focus too much on specific issues of particular groups. So, juneteenth, Martin Luther King Day, Jewish holidays, Christmas, Easter, and so on. We do not have a holiday celebrating the ADA! Should we have one? What is the impact of these specific holidays. If you look at a calendar, virtually every day is dedicated to something.

In a couple of weeks we will reach October 15 which is known as "White Cane Safety Day". That day has often been used to create an understanding of mobility problems faced by people with low vision and who are blind. How effective are these celebrations? What do they accomplish? In the past, we had lots of partners including the White House, state and local governments, local agencies serving people who are blind and companies interested interested in allying with us. Now the White House is describing what we are celebrating as Employment of people who are Blind Day or some such title. What messages are we sending with our White Cane celebration? When we ask sighted people to wear blind folds, are we creating a better understanding of the problems we face? Do we create room for partnerships with White Cane Day or are we allowing ourselves to be used to create advantage for other groups who feel like they can take advantage of the day? What might we do to make it better? What kind of outcomes would make White Cane Day more valuable? We hope that many of you will take part in both these discussions that will explore together the things that bring us together and the things that divide us! This is another of those situations where we don't think there may be right answers. We do think it's important for us to think about the implications that our actions include!

Find out more at https://acb-tuesday-topics.pinecast.co