The “tap-tap” of a long white cane is a sound of independence.
A white cane allows people greater mobility, letting the blind navigate unseen streets. But on Friday morning, a group of both sighted and visually impaired people gathered at Mooheau Park in Hilo to pick up canes.
The group of more than 40 set off across the Kamehameha Avenue crosswalk and past the farmers market tents, looping past the KTA Super Store and down Haili Street before returning to the bandstand.
Along the way, there were crosswalk buttons to locate and push, sharp curbs to avoid, and puddles to step around — all things a cane can help manage.
The walk, timed around national White Cane Safety Day on Oct. 15, takes place annually. On the Big Island, as is the case across the country, the event is hosted by local chapters of the Lions Club in partnership with the National Federation for the Blind.
Members of the Easter Seals and employees at the Arc of Hilo and the state division of vocational rehabilitation participated as well.
Next Saturday, a walk takes place in Kona, featuring an obstacle course for people to try navigating with a cane.
”It’s like a guide, primarily,” said Theone Suzuki, a rehabilitation teacher for the blind and visual impaired. Suzuki works for the DVR in the Ho‘opono Services for the Blind branch, and works with people 55 and older who are losing their eyesight and learning to adapt.
Suzuki demonstrated a couple of different grips and techniques for using the tool, sweeping it in a practiced arc and tapping it against the ground.
Sighted people often underestimate the capabilities of blind people, she said.
“Just being able to get out of the house gives a sense of independence,” Suzuki said.
Maryanne Genova and Lisa Martin teach visually impaired students, traveling to schools around the island to work with people as young as 3 and as old as 22.
There are a small number of students islandwide — less than 50 — and the small numbers mean not as many sighted people know the meaning of visual cues like the cane. Walks like Fridays are important for raising awareness.
At crosswalks, for example, “People will stop and wave us through, but kids can’t see that,” Martin said.
The kids are taught to wait until the car has actually passed by, and to not cross in front of one.
Martin is based in Kona, and brought some of her students to Hilo for the walk, to meet up with friends.
“It’s fun because it’s a social thing for them,” Genova said.
Email Ivy Ashe at iashe@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
