Its Disabilities Week and today the Belize Council for the Visually Impaired pulled out the white canes to remind the driving public to brake for the blind. On these crowded streets where hostility and honking horns ruled the roadways, that kind of courtesy seems almost anachronistic but as BCVI poster boy Hector Hoare told us, it's the least a driver can do.
Alfonso Noble Reporting, Email - [alfnoble@yahoo.com]
Hector Hoare, Visually Impaired
"The importance of this white cane awareness day is to bring awareness to the vehicular public so that they can understand that when they see a blind person with a white cane, that they should pay heed to that white cane and to stop and give those persons the opportunity to cross the street."
Many times, drivers ignore the white cane, much to the detriment of the visually impaired.
Donovan Reneau, Visually Impaired
"I encountered it just this weekend, now that you speak about it, they just run pass and they don't care. Probably I wuld stand up there for almost 15 minutes or more and no one seems to care unless someone comes by who knows me and then they would say Donovan you could go across. So it's a problem with some people. I guess everyone is in a hurry so they don't seem to look at the cane to see if you have a cane in the hand."
And when that cane is angled forward, that means the visually impaired person is asking the driver to stop to allow him to cross. On this day that message was being sent home with a warning.
Carla Ayres-Musa, P.R. Officer, BCVI
"Its really difficult for people in general, pedestrians in general, but its that much more difficult for somebody who cannot walk or for somebody who cannot see to cross the street and I think a lot of people in Belize don't know that you're not supposed to block a pedestrian crosswalk. When someone who is standing on the side of the street with their cane and the cane is extended and is waiting to cross, you're supposed to stop for them so they can cross and people don't know they can be fined $50 if they don't do something like that. So this type of awareness is basically, although it sounds kind of mean, to scare people into remembering that these are the rules."
And the rule exists for a good reason because for the seeing public, it's hard to imagine the apprehension, uncertainty and the terror of standing and waiting to cross while uncaring drivers zoom by. On this day, Carla brought out the blindfold and gave this sighted young man an opportunity to feel what it's like. And while the traffic waited, he wasn't quite on target with the walking.
Alistair Barrow,
"I feel strange man, it was definitely strange because for people who don't have eye sight and they walking through the streets with these canes, its very strange so I believe vehicles should give them respect and other vehicles should give them respect when they are crossing the street."
And Carla took her turn at it as well. She pulled out her 50 inch white cane
and donned the blindfold and got ready to walk across but she wouldn't do it without an escort. And when she walked back, it was to the sound of honking horns - much to her displeasure.
Carla Ayres-Musa,
"It's a pretty scary experience and its something that I think everybody, in order to understand what it's like and to be able to abide by the rules with more care, its something that they should try."
And so I did. Carla put the blindfold on me showed me how to hold the cane at the required angle and I walked across. Not quite in a straight line...while the cars dutifully waited. And though I may have looked like some super hero with my purple mask and all - I felt lost, confused and frightened and after that slightly harrowing few minutes of sightlessness - I had one piece of advice, which was to respect the white cane. It's a lesson that hopefully we all head for the benefit of the visually impaired, and the disabled who have to wait their turn for a crossing in wheelchairs.
7NEWS produced for broadcast by News Director Jules Vasquez
Edited and Prepared for the internet by Keith Swift