10/20/2026
🎸🤘 WE ROCKED INDEPENDENCE! 🦯💙
What an incredible day it was celebrating White Cane Day 2026: Rocking Independence – Life Without Limits!
This year, we decided to do something a little different for White Cane Day. We brought our community HOME! 🏫
We opened the doors of the Louisiana School for the Visually Impaired and the Louisiana Special School District to invite our community to experience firsthand what access, advocacy, opportunity, and independence look like for our students.
Our goal wasn’t just for visitors to learn about our students. We wanted them to learn FROM our students!
From Braille, assistive technology, orientation and mobility, agriculture, automotive, goalball, music, student advocacy, and tactile exploration, to snowballs and socializing (SSD personnel), our campus came alive with interactive learning experiences. And one of the best parts? Our students weren’t just participating. They were LEADING, TEACHING, and SHARING their knowledge with others! 💙
We have so many people to thank for making this celebration possible!
🎤 To our incredible Voices of Independence panelists: Thank you for sharing your personal experiences, perspectives, and wisdom. Your willingness to answer questions and have meaningful conversations reminded us that independence looks different for everyone, and every voice deserves to be heard.
🏛️ To our state and local leaders: Thank you to Governor Jeff Landry for his special message and proclamation, Dr. Sinella Aghasi for joining us to present it, and Mayor-President Sid Edwards for celebrating alongside our students and recognizing White Cane Day in our community.
🎶 To Danielle Parisi and our Student Body President, Kmauri Es**rt: Thank you for helping make our opening ceremony so special!
🤝 To our vendors, community organizations, and educational partners: Thank you for sharing your time, resources, expertise, and passion for creating a more accessible and inclusive Louisiana.
🏫 To our visiting schools, students, families, special guests, LSU and SELU educators and future educators, and members of the public: Thank you for showing up with open minds, asking questions, building relationships, and being willing to learn something new!
🍽️ A very special thank-you to Proverbs 31 Nonprofit! Thank you for generously preparing and providing lunch for our students, staff, and guests. Your kindness and willingness to serve our school community helped make this day even more special. We are so grateful for your support!
💻 To our SSD IT and Ed Tech Teams: Thank you for making our program, live stream, panel talk, and assistive technology station a success! We appreciate all of the extra hours of work you put in for our schools and students!
📺 To WBRZ: Thank you for covering our celebration and helping us share the importance of White Cane Day with the greater Baton Rouge community!
💙 To our SSD and LSVI administration, teachers, staff, station facilitators, student volunteers, and everyone who worked behind the scenes: From setting up stations and coordinating logistics to supervising students and welcoming guests, this day would not have been possible without you!
And finally, to our STUDENTS: Thank you for reminding us every day that independence isn’t about doing everything the same way as everyone else. It’s about having the tools, opportunities, confidence, and support to pursue your own goals.
Awareness is important, but awareness that leads to understanding, relationships, and opportunity is how we create REAL CHANGE!
From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for helping us ROCK INDEPENDENCE! 🎸🦯
Stay tuned for some awesome photos!
With gratitude,
Alisha Butler & Jaycee Domingue
White Cane Day 2026 Organizers
