Guilly d'Herbemont (25 June 1888 – 28 February 1980) was the inventor of the white cane for blind people.
Ms d'Herbemont had the idea of putting the color white on sticks for visually impaired and blind transporters in order to draw attention to themselves.
In 1930, d'Herbemont wrote a letter to the director of the national daily newspaper L'Écho de Paris.
Some of the representatives from many associations thought that this distinctive sign would be badly perceived by some individuals that were concerned not “to post” their handicap (3).
As valid of a concern as it may be, even a monumental innovation such as the white stick for the blind community was met with a lot of resistance by many.
Motor Vehicles in Paris did not have headlights, and blind individuals in the streets did not have access to the white stick of police officers (4).
Guilly recognized this problem and was instrumental in starting the movement that was responsible for making the use of white canes for civilians more widespread.
Due to her efforts, drivers had an easier time stopping their vehicles for visually impaired individuals.
Towards the end of World War II, Richard Hoover, an army sergeant and a former teacher at a school for the blind in Baltimore in the United States, was assigned to a centre for the treatment of blinded soldiers in the Valley Forge Army Hospital.
There he spent a week walking around blindfolded with a white cane, swinging it back and forth in front of his feet to avoid obstacles.
This technique, known as the Hoover method, is now taught to visually impaired people all over the world to help them travel independently (4).
Even though there have been many technological developments that were designed to improve the white cane, Guilly’s innovation has fundamentally been unchanged.