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White Cane Club seeks to make downtown easier to navigate

Organization asks businesses to mark steps and entranceways with high visibility paint.
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Joey Seiler and Lori Fry of the White Cane Club are looking to make the community a safer place by painting the steps, ledges and curbs of 100 Mile House businesses with high visibility paint, all free of charge. (Patrick Davies photo - 100 Mile Free Press)

Lori Fry has renewed a call to the 100 Mile House businesses become more user-friendly for the community’s visually impaired.

The public relations director of the 100 Mile House & District Blind & Visually Impaired Cane Club is asking local businesses to consider marking steps, door handles and entranceways with high visibility paint. The cost of the changes would be covered by the White Cane Club, which received a joint grant of $1,000 from the Cariboo Regional District and District of 100 Mile House. The club matched the grant, providing a total budget of $2,000.

The program began last year. Only the South Cariboo Business Centre, the District of 100 Mile House and Cedar Crest Society have participated so far.

READ MORE:White Cane Club looks to work with business community to install high visibility paint

“We are ready to get going now and the word is out there and we really want businesses to reach out to us and go ‘Yes, please, come make our stairs and mark our railings at no cost to us,’” Fry said. “That’s all that we need. If we don’t get those responses we’ll probably start knocking on everyone’s doors going ‘hey, would you like these stairs painted?’”

Joey Seiler, a sighted member of the White Cane Club since 2009, is joining Fry in heading the project this year. Seiler’s wife Kate has retinitis pigmentosa - a rare eye disease in which her retinas have broken down over time. This has left Kate with no night vision and little depth perception.

“She’s had a couple of accidents where she’s kind of fell off a ledge, like in behind Save-On-Foods,” Seiler said.

Seiler said he got involved in the project to make the community a safer place for both Kate as well as visually impaired visitors to the community. If she can have trouble navigating sometimes, he said, chances are others from outside 100 Mile House could also run into issues.

Fry said that adding paint is a simple way for businesses owners to make a difference for the visually impaired, as well as 100 Mile House’s robust senior community. While the club will recommend options to businesses, she said it will be up to individual businesses to decide what they want to do.

READ MORE: White Cane Club offers support, camaraderie

“We want to maximize this season as much as we can as long as the weather will allow. It’s not a difficult process, it’s just a matter of getting willing participants,” Fry said, adding the community has been supportive over the past 30 years.

This project is close to Fry’s heart as she suffers from Stickler syndrome, which has caused her retinas to tear and break down. Her vision has deteriorated to only one per cent, putting her on “the cusp of total blindness.”

Besides helping people navigate the downtown core more safely, Fry said the paint is also a great way to raise awareness about vision impairment and blindness.

“There are many, many things that I don’t know about. You could have a condition that if I hadn’t read a book or read a news article about it, how would I know about it?” Fry said. “The philosophy I promote is we need to share information and encourage (people) to be receptive. Even if they don’t think it applies to them they could help someone else out and isn’t that making a better world for everybody?”

Those interested in taking part in the project can call Fry at 250-395-2452, Seiler at 778-482-0028 or email odifry@shaw.ca.



patrick.davies@100milefreepress.net

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The stairs leading to the Cedar Crest Society’s Thrift Shop demonstrate the importance of high visibility paint. (Patrick Davies photo - 100 Mile Free Press)
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The stairs leading to the Cedar Crest Society’s Thrift Shop demonstrate the importance of high visibility paint. (Patrick Davies photo - 100 Mile Free Press)
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Last year, inspired by but independent of the White Cane Club, the South Cariboo Business Centre put up high visibility tape on their stairs. (Patrick Davies photo - 100 Mile Free Press)


Patrick Davies

About the Author: Patrick Davies

An avid lover of theatre, media, and the arts in all its forms, I've enjoyed building my professional reputation in 100 Mile House.
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