I was elected president of the Canadian Federation of the Blind In June 2003, and I am proud to lead a group of strong, positive and forward-thinking people. In this message I will set out who we are and what we stand for to help people differentiate us from other blindness groups and to understand why we are here and what we are doing.

The CFB is modeled after the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) in the United States. We share the NFB’s positive philosophies about blindness and, like the NFB, work to empower blind people to reach their potential, and to change what it means to be blind. Some people ask us why we are so closely tied to an American organization, particularly when the political climate between Canada and the US is so troubled. My answer is clear: blindness has no borders. American blind people fought hard to build a strong, effective and powerful organization of blind people, and there is no reason we shouldn’t benefit from their achievements. The CFB is a separate and independent organization. However, we borrow positive ideas, concepts and programs from the NFB and present them in a Canadian context. Faced with a close to 90 per cent unemployment rate of blind Canadians, our members believe the most important thing is to do whatever we can to empower blind people and educate society about the abilities of blind citizens.

Another important issue that differentiates the CFB from other groups is our take on the issue of accessibility. While we are not against some environmental modifications in some situations, we focus more on attitude than access. We believe the real barriers confronting blind people are attitudinal not physical. The more we educate about the abilities of blind people, the more we will achieve as blind citizens. The true mark of full integration is not whether we get a tactile cross walk, but whether a blind person has the skills and confidence needed to cross the street. True integration and first-class citizenship happen when people in society, such as employers, and blind people ourselves believe we can compete on terms of equality with the sighted.

Another significant position taken by our organization involves our stance against unaccountable agency control over blind people and blindness issues in Canada. We feel blind people need to speak out and take charge of our own destinies and demonstrate our independence from the national blindness agency.

In conclusion, members of the CFB want to affect blindness issues at their core and not just at a surface level; we feel this kind of change can only happen when we examine our own and other’s deeply-held beliefs about blindness.

Members of the Canadian Federation of the Blind are working hard to empower blind people and change what it means to be blind in this country. We hope you will join us in our efforts. If you are interested in learning how to become a member of the CFB, please contact us at info@cfb.ca or 1-800-619-8789

Warmly,
Elizabeth Lalonde, President
Canadian Federation of the Blind