It was a learning experience

Having eyes, we see not – was the thought that came to me as I sat in the auditorium of the Public Library which was filled with blind as well as partially sighted users of the White Cane and their friends and relatives on October 15. We, the sighted, often pass by people with various disabilities, often failing to recognize them as fully human like ourselves. I learned much that day.

It was fitting that the Chief Guest at this year’s event organized by the Sri Lanka Council for the Blind, was Lion Kamal Senevirathna, District Governor of the International Association of Lions Clubs, District 306 A2, because it was the Lions who were responsible for securing worldwide recognition of the importance of the White Cane.

It was originally introduced in America in 1920 by Lion Richard Hoover who was attached to a hospital in Pennsylvania. Helen Keller, internationally famous as a person who triumphed over multiple disabilities that included blindness, urged the Lions International, as far back as 1925, to promote the use of the White Cane for securing mobility for the blind.

However, it was declared an international day only in 1969 when the 2nd convention of the International Federation of the Blind was hosted by the Sri Lanka Council for the Blind under the patronage of the then Prime Minister, the late Dudley Senanayake, at the Galle Face Hotel.

Seated before a mike at a side table was the Secretary of the Council, S.L. Hettiarachchi, sightless himself, who served as an excellent compere for the event. Before the proceedings commenced, the gathering rose to observe two minutes silence in memory of the late Rienzie Akagiyawanna who pioneered the observation of the International White Cane Day in Sri Lanka, and of his brother, Dr. K.L.V. Alagiyawanna whose efforts first secured teaching appointments in main-stream schools for vision-impaired graduates.After Amaradasa Gunawardana, President of the Council for the Bind, formally welcomed everybody, messages were read out from President Mahinda Rajapaksa and from the Douglas Devananda, Minister of Social Services and Social Welfare. The guest of honour, Mrs. V. Jegarajasingam, Secretary to the Ministry of Social Welfare, spoke of the commitment of her ministry to promoting the rights of the disabled.

Someone described on the programme as “a blind achiever”, came to the mike and gave a clear account of some of his experiences as a blind person. He was Attorney-at-law and Legal Officer of the Disability Organisations Joint Front (DOJF) R.N.H.G.Gunaratna. He recalled a day long ago when he was a young pupil at the School for the Blind in Ratmalana, and the late Col. C.P. Jayawardana had come to the school and demonstrated to the then Principal, Kingsley Dassenaike and the staff and students, the usefulness of the White Cane as an aid to mobility of the blind.

Mr. Gunaratna also made the important point that laws and regulations were not enough – they had to be acted upon, to be implemented. Another high achiever, the smiling Kamala Xavier who is probably the only blind student so far to graduate in Philosophy from the Peradeniya University, gave a fine “pep” talk in which she declared that the disabled need to preserve their self-esteem.

“We may lack one faculty, but we are equally human with everyone else. We have to find what each of us can do and do that to the best of our ability. We are inter-dependent. `I lean on you, You draw strength from me, Together there is nothing that we cannot do’, ” she quoted.

We were treated to some musical items performed by an orchestra composed of blind musicians and a blind lady sang. The Sri Lanka Council for the Blind broke new ground by choosing to honour two “disabled-friendly employers” on this occasion. They were Factory Director of CEI Plastics Ltd., Piliyandala, Anver Dole and Ananda Wijesuriya of Oxley Thread Company Ltd., who were felicitated and presented with a plaque each, in appreciation of their commendable example in giving employment to sightless women and men.

Lion Kamal Senevirathne gave the keynote address in which he outlined the work done by the International Association of Lions to empower the disabled. He also pinned Lion badges on Mrs. Jegarajasingam, Mr. Hettiarachchi, Mrs. Kamala Xavier and Mr. R.M.H.G. Gunaratna. Twenty cassette radios and 25 “talking” wrist-watches were distributed to blind students from all parts of the country.

Earlier on, we were shown a short video of local white cane users walking on pavements and on uneven ground by “tap-tapping” their way as they went. They even confidently boarded buses and alighted from them without human aid. I learned that “handicaps”, as we call them, are mostly in the minds of people and that what the disabled most want is the chance to lead productive lives, like everyone else.