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White Cane Day

Sri Lanka Council for the Blind has arranged national celebrations to mark White Cane Day. A meeting will be held on October 15 at 10 a.m. at the YWCA at Rotunda Gardens, Colombo 3. Karunasena Kodituwakku, Minister of Education and Cultural Affairs will be the chief guest.

Cassette recorders and cassette tapes used by visually handicapped will be donated to 18 selected blind students. Every visually handicapped person attending the meeting will be given a white cane free of charge. A project proposed by the Sri Lanka Council for the Blind to issue special Identity Cards to all visually handicapped persons in the island will also be launched.

There will also be musical entertainment provided by veteran musician, Hemapala Perera and his troupe. Perera, a blind musician, is a talented radio artiste with experience in playing the flute.

It was in 1969, at the second convention of the International Federation of the Blind held at the Galle Face Hotel, Colombo, chaired by late Rienzy Alagiyawanna, who was blind, that it was decided to request the world community to declare October 15 as the International White Cane Day.

The convention held at the Galle Face Hotel was attended by the then Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake and the then Finance Minister J. R. Jayewardene.

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