NEBRASKA CITY – Students and staff at the Nebraska Center for the Education of Children who are Blind or Visually Impaired walked in downtown Nebraska City in observation of White Cane Awareness Day, which is celebrated Oct. 15.

Katie of Hordville, Neb., is a student at Nebraska City school.

Katie: “White Cane Day is a day to celebrate awareness for blind or visually impaired people that have a cane.”

The National Federation of the Blind says the white cane allows users to avoid obstacles, find steps and curbs and uneven places in sidewalks.

Most of the group Friday said Nebraska City’s downtown is cane friendly, but there could be improvement at lighted intersections. They suggest an audio alert that the light has changed.

Sam Kahow of the education center said without an audio indicator, cane users are left to listen for movement of vehicles.

Kahow: “There will be where all the traffic stops and then they start again. You want that parallel traffic that is traveling in the same direction that you’re traveling,  you’ll hear that start to go and that will be your cue that the parallel traffic is going so the traffic on the street that I’m going to cross should be stopped.”

He said cane users still have to be aware of turning traffic.

White Cane Awareness Day began in 1960s with a movement to encourage independence and include the visually impaired in community life.