#white canes

[tiktoks-repost]

[blindbeta]

Hello! I'm writing a story in an ambiguously non-modern fantasy setting, and I'm struggling to figure out how to write accessibility devices, specifically canes, in that setting.

I want to give my character a cane, but the materials white canes are made out of don't fit in the setting I'm working in. I tried to research into historical accessibility devices for blindness but unfortunately wasn't able to find much from before the 20th century.

Before White Canes

Right. It is really hard to find information on this. I did find information about people using Shepard’s staffs, which could probably work if they were shorter. While not ideal, they can allow for some obstacle-detection and a cursory sweep of terrain. The material wouldn’t allow for much information-gathering, but it would probably keep your character from tripping over rocks or running into a tree. So, this type of staff might do in a pinch if it can be shortened appropriately. A regular wooden staff would probably be used similarly.

The staff would not provide as much tactile information and it might be more difficult to use due to weight. However, using it often enough might decrease these concerns.

So, if your character comes from a an environment that raises sheep or a similar animal, a staff would be a natural step from there.

Another option is sighted guide. Family and friends could help, emphasizing interdependence on community. If a blind character wants to go into town, they might have someone they trust go with them. Their home, however, would probably be okay to navigate without much help.

Another option that comes to mind is using animals. While guide animals need to be trained and were not formerly used until relatively recently, horses and dogs are a reasonable guide choice. Horses display natural guiding tendencies and dogs can often display attunement to humans they are close to. For a fictional or fantasy setting, you could probably get away with this, although their abilities and attention to tasks will not be as steadfast as they would be with formal training. While I normally wouldn’t suggest this, lack of options means people have to be resourceful. Meaning if they don’t have formal training schools yet, they could still have a dog provide stabilization or something useful to them.

I’m assuming your story is a mostly real world past, meaning you can’t use fantasy to create what you need. However, that might be an option if your world is not set on Earth, just in a non-modern ye olde setting. You get away with using real-world examples and making them happen earlier in your world, such as establishing education for the blind.

A blind character having access to their community is essential for these types of situations. Characters can trade information and techniques even if canes as we know them today don’t exist. This would also enable you to explore multiple ways of navigating.

If anyone has any information on navigating before white canes, please share.

I hope this helps.

[cripplecharacters]

I am writing a fanfic about a character known as pure vanilla cookie from a cookie run game who is implied to be visually impaired/blind. And may I ask if it is okay if I write her flower wand as a cane. While the character is still visually impaired, but using the staff as a sort of cane and removing the whole 'fixing disability trope' and i've been wondering if it okay to use the flower staff as cane?

Hello, thank you for your ask!

(Edit: this post has been corrected! Thank you so much to @askablindperson for your feedback!)

Note: I myself am not blind but I did talk with another mod about the ask. If any of our blind/visually impaired followers want to chime in feel free! Also I don't know a lot about Cookie Run lore, so sorry if i get something wrong because I'm going off of images of the character.

I think it's great to change a canonically disabled character so they experience their disability rather than getting magically cured, however looking at photos of the staff there are some things about it that would need to change, and some things you should consider.

I think the main issue with using their wand as a cane would be the flower on top. Real world canes are held at the handel with the top pointed at their stomach, and I'd imagine having a large, bulky flower on top would make it harder to handle. If the flower were to be able to move out of the way or shrink it might be easier to use.

The staff is also much taller than a white cane. Long canes are typically a bit taller than shoulder level, while Pure Vanilla Cookie's staff seems to reach well over their head. This would make it difficult to use unless it can shrink.

The bottom of the cane looks curved, similar to a bundu basher tip (although actual bundu bashers have angles instead of being completely rounded), which are ment for traveling in unpaved, natural areas. This type of tip would make sense for a character that's in nature a lot, but not for a character that lives in a well paved city. I'd recommend looking up cane tips and what they're used for depending on where Pure Vanilla Cookie lives. Cane tips also get worn after a lot of use, so unless the staff can regrow its tip it's going to need to be able to be taken off and be changed.

Another thing to consider is how recognizable it is as a white cane. Signaling blindness can be useful in situations such as a driver knowing a blind person is at the crosswalk and they might start walking before the light changes, it lets other people know to be more careful. This is also why identification canes (or id canes) exist, they're canes that don't help with navigation but instead let other people know that while they do have remaining vision they're still blind.

If you wanted to make the staff a cane you'd have to change a lot about it, or give Pure Vanilla Cookie both the staff as well as a white cane (or a guide dog/animal [if they don't have dogs in CR] or a guide).

I'd also recommend looking through our #white canes and #blindness tags, as well as blogs focused on blind characters such as blindbeta! Feel free to ask again if you have any more specific questions about portraying a blind person or tropes.

Have a lovely day!

Mod Rot

[askablindperson]

What the Colors of a White Cane Really Mean

Originally published on my blog.

You may have noticed that not all white canes used by the blind are actually white. Many certainly are of course, but you may also have seen some with red sections at the bottom, other colors at the bottom such as yellow or pink, multiple red stripes on the shaft, or even some which feature no white at all and come in a wide variety of colors.

So why is there so much diversity? What do the different colors of white canes mean? Or more importantly, do they mean anything at all?

Level of Vision

There are several places on the Internet which claim that the colors of a white cane indicate how much vision the user does or does not have. This article by the Central Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired says, “An all-white cane means that the user is completely blind and has no usable vision.  A white cane with a red bottom means that the user has low, but some usable vision.” Another blog post by the Eye Centers of Racine & Kenosha claims this: “Individual who use canes with a red bottom and white top often have residual vision.” And what’s more, even several blind social media creators have made content reinforcing this idea, such as this Facebook reel by Molly Burke and this TikTok video by Matthew and Paul.

With all of these places making the same claim, it can be easy to believe that it’s true. After all, if you’ve heard something from a blindness organization, an eye doctor, and even several blind people themselves, why wouldn’t you believe it?

However, one interesting thing to note is that not one of these online posts cites a single official source. They reference no specific laws, no official policies, and none of them even quote this claim from a certified orientation and mobility instructor. When researching the question yourself, you will also conspicuously find no legal documentation or policy statements from credible sources. In other words, there appears to be no credible evidence to back up the claim that a solid white cane is meant to indicate total blindness and a white cane with a red end is meant to indicate some residual vision.

In reality, the vast majority of countries have no particular policy on the color of a white cane indicating the user’s level of vision, red or otherwise. In fact, in places like the United Kingdom, white canes with red bottoms are actually quite rare in general and the majority of the blind in the UK will use solid white canes. There is one law passed in Argentina in 2002 which has made it official for a green cane to represent low vision as opposed to total blindness, but this is so far the only formally documented case I have ever found of the color of a white cane officially indicating a person’s level of vision.

So if the colors don’t represent how much residual vision the user has, then what DO they represent? They must serve some other purpose, right?

Visibility

The most common reason for a white cane to have a red bottom in particular is simply to make the cane even more eye-catching and highly visible, especially to drivers. The primary purpose of a white cane of course is to enable the user to navigate safely by gathering information about the environment ahead of them, but it also serves as a useful indicator to others that the user is blind or low vision, and bright eye-catching colors like white and red are great for grabbing visual attention even in poorly lit environments. A flash of red also enhances the visibility of the white cane in snowy weather, and in some cases, a low vision user may find the red segment helpful if they use their residual vision in tandem with their cane.

This last reason I suspect may be the reason why the level of vision myth may have taken hold. However, it is important to know that not every blind or low vision person with residual vision will find the red segment helpful and the majority of us choose our cane colors for other reasons. In fact, many blind and low vision people choose to use a white cane deliberately to enable us to not have to look at the ground when we travel, allowing our canes to do their job by touch and sound so that we can achieve better posture and free up our limited vision to focus on other things.

Brand

Another major determining factor in the exact colors of a person’s white cane is simply which brand they purchased it from. Some brands such as Chris Park, D Canes, and Rainshine Canes produce all of their canes in solid white. After all, white alone is already quite the eye-catching color in most environments and not everyone will feel the need to add a high-vis red segment. Meanwhile, other brands such as Revolution, Reisen, and All Terrain Canes produce all of their canes with a red bottom, and the brand Ambutech offers both solid white and red bottomed canes along with a variety of other colors. The German brand IO even produces all of their canes with a yellow bottom segment.

Brands may have various reasons for using the colors they do — some may simply prefer the look while others aim for extra high visibility, and these color differences can be part of why a blind person may prefer the brand that they do.

Personalization

Function is not the only motivator for a blind person in choosing the color of their cane. Just as many other disabled groups like to customize the colors of their wheelchairs, walkers, and hearing aids, many blind people also use the colors of their canes as a means of self expression. Yes, even many totally blind people with no vision at all.

Each one of us will have our own individual preferences on the colors of our canes. Some may want to prioritize the extra visibility of red and white, some may prefer the clean simplicity or fashion neutrality of solid white, and others still may find the red and white to be uncomfortably medical in appearance. Some may personally prefer the aesthetic of red and white and still others will have no preference at all and simply go with whatever color is offered by their preferred brand. There are as many differing reasons for color choices as there are blind people.

This is why you might also see white canes decorated in any number of other colors like blue, pink, purple, orange, and many more. Some will also apply stickers or even patterns to their canes by using various kinds of tape, and you may even see white canes decorated with accessories such as charms or rhinestones. Sometimes these customizations are only applied to part of the cane but you may also see a white cane which has no white to be found on it at all for the extent of the customization.

Deafness or Hearing Loss

There is one category of white cane color scheme which actually does have a widely accepted meaning within the blind community and that is a white cane with multiple red stripes or bands. This color pattern typically indicates that the user is deafblind, meaning that they are deaf or hard of hearing in addition to their blindness.

The white cane with red bands is not necessarily formally recognized everywhere — in the United States for instance, we often understand that this cane is meant to indicate deafblindness but it is not formally written into any of our laws or policies. However, it is more formalized in places like the United Kingdom, and even in the US many in the blind community will still understand what it represents.

That said, not every deafblind person will choose to use the white cane with red bands. Although many blind people and those who work in the field will recognize it, most in the general public are unaware of its meaning and so there are many deafblind people who do not find it useful as an indicator. Others simply might not feel the need to broadcast their deafness or may actively prefer not to. And of course, just like any other segment of the blind and low vision population, deafblind individuals will have personal preferences on the appearance and aesthetic of their white cane which may not include the red bands.

All this is to say that although it is useful to be aware that a white cane with red stripes represents deafblindness, not every deafblind person will use one and you may still encounter deafblind people whose canes look different.

Conclusion

In the end, the colors of a white cane almost never have anything to do with the user’s level of vision. Instead, they are typically chosen based on visibility, brand, or personalization, and a white cane with multiple red bands typically indicates deafblindness.

If you learned something new from this post, please consider liking it and folllowing my blog for more blindness related content. And if you happen to know of another law I missed stating that certain cane colors represent certain characteristics, please feel free to share it in the comments. I will always enjoy learning about new white cane facts.

[disabledstims]

Various blind cane stims!

GIF 1: A white cane sweeping back and forth on a brown sidewalk. A person walks forward, feet near two colored stripes - the left green and the right red. They pass by a no smoking sign

GIF 2: A person walking down a sidewalk while moving around a black car. Their white cane is held out in front of them.

GIF 3: A white cane sweeps back and forth across a sidewalk. A green line stretches across.

GIF 4: A white cane tapping against gravel before sweeping across and tapping again.

GIF 5: A man dressed in black clothing unraveling his white cane.

GIF 6: A white cane tapping and sweeping across gravel.

GIF 7: A man in black clothing walking and sweeping his white cane back and forth. He walks by a brick wall.

GIF 8: A white cane sweeping back and forth. It bumps into a stone attached to a flyer.

GIF 9: A person riding an escalator while holding a white cane against the ride. He reaches the top and walks off.

[gayaest]

[ID in alt-text]

Some comms from this batch (2/5)!

[disabled-is-not-a-dirty-word]

do you think we could get a white cane version is the why do we have (insert mobility aid) meme... for all the blind and visually imapired folks like me :)

Of course! I don’t use one, so I had to do some research. Please let me know if any changes should be made!

White Cane version (you are here!)

Cane version

Crutch version

Rollator version

Wheelchair version

Power Chair version

[ID: Image of an edited "Why Do We Have Hands" meme. The top says "Why Do We Have White Canes?" and just beneath that is a cartoon picture of a white cane in black and white with the bottom half of the cane having a dark stripe. This is followed by the text "There Are Many Reasons:". Beneath that is a series of black and white pictures in a square formation. The first picture on the top left is of a basic outline of a person with spikey black hair, sunglasses, and a spiked collar. They are using a white cane with alternating black and white stripes. The caption is "look badass." The next picture to the right of it is in the same style and depicts a person being hit on the head with a white cane. The caption is "HIT the ableist." The bottom left picture is a cartoon-style hand holding up a white cane, and the caption is "shake stick at God." The final image on the bottom right is a picture of a person using a white cane with a black tip, poking an unknown creature. The caption is “poking stick” /end ID]

[should-be-sleeping]

PSA

Do not touch someone’s wheelchair or any other assistive device unless they explicitly ask you to. Consider these things an extension of their bodies. Consent is required.