15 October is International White Cane Day. It raises awareness of the challenges faced by blind and partially sighted people and, in particular, their successful integration into society.

The white cane is recognised as a symbol of visual impairment, but also of the independence of blind people; it is an essential tool in their daily lives. And today, on White Cane Day, the Synergia Foundation invites us to slow down and try to put ourselves in the shoes of blind people, to understand what it costs them to overcome the difficulties of everyday life. The foundation, which has been working with the blind for many years, takes the opportunity to congratulate them on their courage and optimism, which is an encouragement to both the blind and the sighted.

The Sofia Blind Tour - a walking tour of the city, but with a blind guide - is being organised again today. Participants have to walk through the iconic streets of Sofia and "see" them blindfolded. The idea is to help more people experience life from the perspective of the visually impaired and to support a cause that makes life easier for the blind.

"What does Sofia smell like? What does it sound like? Which place is where? What is the history of the space we are walking through blindfolded?" - Through the tactile walk, the outside becomes the inside and we see the city and ourselves with "new eyes" - says Evgeni Mitev, founder of the Synergia Foundation:

It is clear that blindness is a kind of disability, but we do not focus on the disability itself, but on the possible solutions and interactions. We have many problems to solve, most of them in the field of accessible urban environments. The fact is that there are no exact statistics on the number of blind and visually impaired people in Sofia and in the country. 

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When we talk about an accessible urban environment, it means that when renovations are carried out in the city, they must be done in consultation with blind experts who can identify the specific needs of a blind person navigating the urban environment. If a pavement is repaired but there are anti-parking bollards and other obstacles that make it difficult to move around, not to mention head-high obstructions such as protruding billboards and street signs, the urban environment becomes not only inconvenient but also quite dangerous".

Evgeni Mitev and his colleagues are able to identify most of the problems that Sofia's urban infrastructure creates for the blind through their Tours of Sofia for the Blind. But the Synergia Foundation's reports also highlight new, modern problems that also need to be solved quickly and adequately.  

"Accessibility in the city is not only about the physical urban infrastructure, but also about making websites and the Internet accessible for the blind" - says Evgeni Mitev:

"It turns out that it is not so easy for a blind person to reach a certain institution or service quickly. However, a great advantage for visually impaired people is that they can use and work on a computer, although few of us are aware of this. Blind people use special software called screen readers. So it's no problem for them to go online and find the websites they want to visit. The problem arises when someone tries to navigate through those sites. We need to think about accessibility for blind Internet users as well." 

In the 10 years that Evgeni Mitev has been working with his foundation, he has seen improvements for visually impaired people, but new problems continue to emerge with modernisation. One such new obstacle is city scooters. Not only do they move very fast and in pedestrian areas, but they are often "parked" in the middle of the pavement. The Foundation has repeatedly reported this to the authorities and, although there has been some response, there is still a long way to go before we achieve 'greater visibility' of the challenges faced by visually impaired people. An hour's walk blindfolded might change the mind of anyone who decides to leave a scooter on the pavement".