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Red and White Canes – and persons with deafblindness
White canes are often used by blind pedestrians and/or those with a visual impairment, and this is well known in most countries around the world.
However, persons with deafblindness (with both sight and hearing impairments) use a red and white striped cane to navigate, therefore, it is very important to raise awareness of this symbol.
In some countries the red and white cane is already well recognized , but in some other countries, there is still much work left to do, to increase the recognition by the general public and authories.
During the 6th WFDB General Assembly in Nairobi (Kenya) in November 2022, the red and white cane was recognized and approved as the universal symbol of deafblindness for our organization, following a proposition by Swedish delegates in 2018.
You can read here a story we published of Alegria, a Spanish older woman with deafblindness and the importance of the red and white cane.
