October 15 is International White Cane Day. It has been celebrated since 1969 by decision of the International Federation of the Blind in order to draw the attention of the international community to the problems of people with impaired vision.
On October 6, 1964, in the United States, with a resolution of Congress, HR753, signed by President Lyndon Johnson, October 15 was declared White Cane Day. In 1970, the president of the International Federation of the Blind announced October 15 as International White Cane Day. 10 years later - February 1980, the Presidium of the World Council for the Welfare of the Blind (the largest and oldest world organization of the blind) at the suggestion of the Chairman of the Rehabilitation Committee also decided to recommend its members to observe October 15 as International White Cane Day.
In compliance with the decision of the Presidium of the World Council for the Welfare of the Blind, the leadership of the Union of the Blind in Bulgaria in September and October 1980 organized a number of events for the first celebration in our country of the International Day of the White Cane. On the eve of October 15, a text on the functions and significance of the white cane was prepared and sent to all SSB organizations. A leaflet was distributed among the citizens about the mobility of the blind and in what cases and how they should be assisted by sighted road users.
On October 15, on Radio Sofia, the program "Horizon", an interview with the deputy chairman of the CS of the SSB Spas Karafezov and a short text about the mobility of the blind were broadcast, and on the program "Hristo Botev" — concert of the Professional Choir of the Blind. On October 18, national television broadcasts a report on the lives of the blind. From October 14 for one week in the cinema "Culture" a film about the labor and professional realization of the Bulgarian blind "Redom with us" is being screened. Materials dedicated to blind people are printed in the local and central press.