LEADING THE WAY
New cane-making initiative to help the blind
AGOLF club grip, a length of aluminium piping, nylon tips and some reflective tape are all it takes to make white canes for the blind and East London’s Association for the Rehabilitation of Persons with Disability has begun production.
White canes are the universal symbol of blindness and are also a vital mobility tool, but, because there are thousands of people in the Eastern Cape who cannot afford the imported canes, Rehab has decided to custom-make them for free.
The NPO’s acting director Rueben Puchert, who himself has only 5% vision after it began deteriorating as a result of juvenile macular degeneration when he was a child, said new foldable canes cost up to R500, but the hand-crafted ones were about R215 each to make.
The cane-making initiative was triggered by Rehab employees Thandeka Saleni and Phumza Selwadda, who have been attending a two-year course in orientation and mobility for the blind at the South African Guide Dogs Association in Johannesburg.
Saleni and Selwadda, who are currently in Rehab’s Southernwood offices to fulfil a practical stint of their course, said it took just minutes to construct a cane after a client had been measured.
The duo are being overseen by SA Guide Dogs Association orientation and mobility facilitator Nomonde Tanda who said: “Canes are the eyes of visually impaired people. Sometimes we meet clients whose families are over-protective and want to do everything for them, but we give them insight into how independent blind people can be.”
A white cane is an important component of this training, said Puchert.
“People are taught how to hold it, how to walk with it and how to scan their environment with it. Once they are trained, blind people don’t need another person to guide them around.”
Selwadda said she and Saleni visited blind people in their homes to train them how to do simple things, like pour their own water.
Puchert said he knew of 50 blind people in Dimbaza alone who would benefit from the white canes and training, but said that Rehab only had 12 golf club grips with which to make them. The grips cost about R100.
“If every golfer in East London donated one, it would bring the cost down and we could give more away to blind people who have been trained to use them.”
● Call Rehab on 043-722-1811 to donate golf club grips or sponsor other materials for white canes. —