Man walking down the street with a white cane

#BeSeenSF: Why We’re Taking Over the Streets on Friday

When you step into the street, whether it’s to represent a cause, celebrate an achievement or just to get where you’re going, you make a statement: I want to be seen.

In the blindness community, we’re used to being looked at. What’s different, though, is choosing to be seen; claiming agency over the spectacle, and making it your own.

On Friday, June 10, the entire LightHouse community is going to depart from the patterns of our daily routines and take over the streets, marching from City Hall, down Van Ness Avenue, onto Market Street, and to a ribbon-cutting and party at our new headquarters, We are in center of San Francisco to make a ruckus, to make a statement, to challenge the idea of business as usual, and encourage our community to think differently about those with different types of vision. Contrary to what you may think, we are blind and proud of it, and we want to be seen in celebration.

This is a parade for people with all types of vision; and we’d love nothing more than to have people who have never met us before filling out our ranks. So tomorrow, Friday June 10 at 11 a.m. sharp, meet us on the Polk Street steps of city hall. It will be a memorable day to set up the blindness community for the next 114 years in downtown San Francisco.

RSVP to join our June 10th Parade and Open House: aogarrio@lighthouse-sf.org.