WLOX - EMERGE Center holds walk for White Cane Awareness Day

LONG BEACH, Miss. (WLOX) — Clients from the EMERGE Center celebrated White Cane Awareness Day with a walk from Highway 90 to the north end of Cleveland Street on Thursday morning.

EMERGE stands for “Encouraging Mississippi Employment through Resilient Growth and Empowerment.”

White Cane Awareness Day is celebrated on Oct. 15 nationwide and is meant to celebrate the right of blind people to move freely and safely across their communities while using the white cane.

Cody Beardslee, a cane instructor at the EMERGE Center, said the cane means a lot to him personally.

“It equals confidence. Giving me the confidence I know I can go do the things I want to do,” Beardslee said.

The EMERGE Center opened in March 2024 and hosts clients from around the country. It is the only place in Mississippi that educates and trains blind or low-vision people.

EMERGE Center Director Macaulay Beasley said the goal is to become independent and functional in today’s society.

“We are a very unique training center. We follow the model structure discovery, where we have high expectations for our clients. We believe that blindness should not be a barrier to anything,” Beasley said.

The center uses non-visual techniques and technology to teach clients how to travel, problem-solve, cook, and live on their own.

“Having those non-visual skills will help me know what to do because my vision is not reliable. You know, I can’t drive; I can’t see the ground. If steps are coming up, my cane is going to find it, not my eyes,” Beardslee said.

Long Beach Mayor Tim Pierce has a goal of making sidewalks more accessible for the center’s clients.

“I want to work on a project to have them identify the areas that they walk most, and hopefully we can find the funds that will help us put in sidewalks for these people and for their training going forward,” Pierce said.

Pierce also presented a proclamation declaring Oct. 15 as White Cane Awareness Day in Long Beach.

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