How did the white cane come to be used as a symbol of blindness?
An Englishman and a French woman both claimed to have developed the idea. James Biggs of Bristol, who became blind as the result of an accident, decided to paint his walking stick white so that drivers of vehicles would notice him more easily in the street. In 1921 he wrote to various organisations, Chief Constables and newspapers, explaining his idea. Ten years later, in 1931, Guilly d’Herbemont launched a national white stick movement in France. This time the campaign was taken up by the British press – in May of that year the BBC broadcast the suggestion that all blind people should be provided with a white stick, which would be nationally recognised by the public. The National Institute for the Blind (now RNIB) started selling white sticks in 1932. In 1976 a version of the white cane with added red stripes was accepted as a standard for use by deafblind people. In 1984 the World Blind Union adopted an international symbol for blindness which featured a person walking with a white c
