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Be Seen

Celebrate the LGBTQ+ Community and Join Us in the 2022 San Francisco Pride Parade

06/23/2022 LightHouse Staff

It’s June–school is out, summer is in full-swing—and across the nation all month long we acknowledge, honor, and celebrate the LGBTQ+ community with Pride awareness, advocacy, and events.

This year, LightHouse is honored to, once again, extend an invitation to all LGBTQ+ community members, their families, friends, and allies as we march in the 52^nd annual Pride Parade in San Francisco on Sunday, June 26. We will proudly commemorate LGBTQ+ heritage as well as raise awareness for the needs of LGBTQ+ people with disabilities. Join us in marching side-by-side or come to the LightHouse headquarters at 1155 Market Street to watch a live stream of the parade with audio description. Once the parade is over, and our contingency arrives at LightHouse, we will commence the Pride After-Party, serving snacks and refreshments. This is a celebration you won’t want to miss!

The celebration runs from Sunday, June 26, from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm

Registration for the LightHouse Pride celebration will be required for all participants, whether they want to walk the parade route or watch from our LightHouse Headquarters at 1155 Market Street. There will also be opportunities for those who wish to volunteer. We will host a live stream of the parade, complete with an audio description. When our contingent finishes marching the parade and arrives at LightHouse, we will commence the Pride after-party, offering light snacks and refreshments. This is a celebration not to be missed!

The San Francisco Lighthouse is proud to provide visual interpreting services for the San Francisco Pride Parade in partnership with Aira. Aira will be describing the televised coverage of the parade from ABC affiliate, KGO Channel 7. Aira will not provide video coverage, but you may watch the video of the parade on one device and listen to audio description from Aira on a separate device. Here’s how:

Watching the Parade

The San Francisco Pride Parade will air on Bay Area station ABC 7 (KGO). It will also be streamed at abc7news.com/Pride.

Audio Description from Aira

Via YouTube

You can listen to the coverage on Aira’s YouTube channel. If you subscribe to the channel, you will be notified when the live stream begins.

Via Zoom

We will provide a Zoom Webinar for those wishing to use the Zoom platform. Go to bit.ly/airapride to join the webinar.

You can also listen by phone via Zoom at one of these numbers. For higher quality, dial a number based on your current location:

In the United States:
+1 312 626 6799 or
+1 646 876 9923 or
+1 301 715 8592 or
+1 346 248 7799 or
+1 669 900 6833 or
+1 253 215 8782
Webinar ID: 842 2939 6670
International numbers available: https://aira.zoom.us/u/kciAr2e0Nl

Accessibility for those Marching in the Parade

The parade route is 1.8 miles long and will involve standing and walking. We will have limited ways for seated options to participate in the parade. If you’d like to request a wheeled ride during the parade, please indicate this in the comments at the end of the registration form.

You may also request a human guide to march in the parade.

LightHouse Pride T-Shirts

The first 50 people to register for the LightHouse Pride celebration, whether marching in the parade or watching from our headquarters, will receive a free LightHouse Pride t-shirt. You may also purchase a LightHouse 2022 Pride t-shirt online at Adaptations.org. Our fabulous Pride t-shirt was designed in-house and sports a stylish and unique way to bring awareness to blind, low vision, and DeafBlind LGBTQ+ community members. The shirt is white and features a pair of sunglasses with the rainbow Pride flag reflecting in the lenses. A white cane leans on the left side of the sunglasses’ frame. Underneath the glasses it says “Be Seen” in black print with “be seen” in orange Braille dots beneath. On the back of the t-shirt is the LightHouse logo with “LightHouse” in uncontracted rainbow-colored Braille beneath the logo. T-shirts are available in sizes S-XL for $30.00, size 2XL for $33.25, and size 3XL for $34.50.

For more information about the San Francisco Pride 2022 event, please contact Sheri Albers, Community Outreach Coordinator, at SAlbers@lighthouse-sf.org or call 415-694-7331.

Order Your Pride t-Shirt online from Adaptations.org.

LightHouse News

LightHouse Observes White Cane Day with Mayor London Breed

10/16/2019 LightHouse Staff 1 Comment

On Tuesday, October 15, LightHouse celebrated White Cane Day. Eighty-seven LightHouse ambassadors, visitors and staff gathered to talk about the white cane as a tool for blind independence. San Francisco Mayor London Breed joined us and talked about San Francisco’s commitment to making the city a great place for seniors and people with disabilities to live and work. After her remarks, LightHouse received an official proclamation from the Mayor’s Office declaring October 15, 2019 as White Cane Day. Afterwards, the LightHouse group marched to City Hall to create awareness about the white cane and blind pedestrian safety.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed holds a tactile map of the White Cane Day route to City Hall. Photo by Caitlin O’Malior.

The event was highlighted in the San Francisco Chronicle and profiled on ABC7’s evening news broadcast.

LightHouse O&M instructors, some wearing Safe Streets t-shirts.

LightHouse celebrates White Cane Day on steps of San Francisco City Hall. — LightHouse friends, many wearing “my cane is my right-of-way” t-shirts, stand on the steps in front of San Francisco’s City Hall holding the LightHouse banner. Photo by Sarika Dagar.

Many White Cane Day participants wore t-shirts designed in partnership with the Vision Zero SF Safe Streets project. Vision Zero SF is committed to eliminating traffic fatalities by 2024 in San Francisco, by educating the public about traffic safety and adopting policy changes that will save lives. The t-shirts come in orange, black and white. The front of the shirts show two blind pedestrians drawn in outline in a crosswalk, using their canes. A car is stopped outside the crosswalk at a stop sign. Words, above, read “My cane is my right-of-way.” On the back of the shirts, it reads, “My Cane is my right-of-way.” in English, Spanish, Chinese and Tagalog.

In celebration of White Cane Awareness Month, white canes are 10% off at our Adaptations Store for walk-in customers for the entire month of October! Visit us at on the 10th floor of 1155 Market in San Francisco. Store hours are Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. We’re also open on the second Saturday, October 12, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

LightHouse Alternate Media Specialist Caitlin O’Malior shows Mayor London Breed and her staff a tactile map.

LightHouse ambassadors Ana Maria Mendoza and Jorge Ellington in black and orange versions of the Safe Streets t-shirt. The shirts show person drawn in outline holding a white cane crossing a street. There is a car waiting outside the crosswalk. The sign reads “My cane is my right-of-\way”.

LightHouse volunteers Anthony Lee Harper and Robert Cortez pose with LightHouse Safe Streets Ambassador Wen Lin in the center.

A group stands in front of LightHouse headquarters waiting to cross Market Street.

The back of the White Cane Day t-shirt: It reads, “My Cane is My Right of Way” in English, Spanish, Chinese and Tagal

People with white canes getting ready to cross a street.

LightHouse News

Celebrate White Cane Day and meet Mayor London Breed

09/30/2019 Andrea Ogarrio 1 Comment

Calling all members of the blind community, friends and allies. Tuesday, October 15 is White Cane Day. Celebrate and promote safety awareness at LightHouse Headquarters as we meet Mayor London Breed and walk to City Hall. Bring your canes or dog guides and be seen.

When: Tuesday, October 15, 2019, 10:00 to 11:30 a.m.
Where: Meet at LightHouse Headquarters on the 10th floor.
Light refreshments will be served before the walk.

We’ll get things started with a 30-minute welcome meeting at LightHouse Headquarters on the 10th floor to talk about the importance of the white cane, LightHouse’s involvement with the Safe Streets for Seniors project and pedestrian safety in the city. San Francisco Mayor London Breed will be there to say hello.

At 10:30, we’ll leave LightHouse as a group and walk proudly to City Hall and back to create awareness and visibility around the white cane and blind pedestrians. Photos will be taken, and we’ll be giving away free Safe Streets t-shirts (now in white!) to wear as you walk.

Please RVSP directly to Briana Kusuma at bkusuma@lighthouse-sf.org or 415.694.7335. If you’d like a new Safe Streets t-shirt, be sure to give us your shirt size. Or wear one you already have.

1n 1964, at the urging of the National Federation of the Blind and other organizations, the United States Congress adopted a joint resolution designating October 15 of each year as White Cane Safety Day, recognizing that white canes enable blind people to travel safely and independently.