Hello everyone,

I am happy to connect with you all this holiday season.

One of the biggest challenges we face as Canadians is our geography. It is difficult to connect with each other when we live across such vast distances. Members of the Canadian Federation of the Blind want to bridge this distance, and we try through emails and teleconferences. We need to do more. And I look forward to hearing your ideas about ways we can do this.

The most important part of the Federation is the family spirit: the feeling of togetherness, vitality and oneness we feel when we are together. When you go to a National Federation of the Blind convention in the states, or a CANADIAN FEDERATION OF THE BLIND convention in Canada, people feel connected, part of a like-minded group, not just of blind individuals, but of those who want to work in a positive and united way to promote equality and empowerment for blind people.

I prepared this message to let you know we are here and that we want you to be a part of our family.

We have a Website, www.cfb.ca, a Facebook page, and a toll-free phone line 1800-619-8789. Please contact us and tell us about yourself.

We have a listserv. If you would like to be on this list, please send us an email to info@cfb.ca.

As many of you know, I was away last year in Louisiana training at the Louisiana Centre for the Blind. It was an amazing experience: a life-changing adventure. I didn’t learn Braille as a child, for the reasons so many children with low vision do not learn Braille – they thought I had enough sight to read print.

This year, at the Louisiana Centre for the Blind, I learned to read Braille at nearly 50 words per minute. It is an empowering accomplishment for me. I wore sleep shades everyday during my training and learned to cook, travel, work with tools all without using sight. It freed me and gave me the courage and the confidence to accomplish even more.

I deeply miss my time at the centre and the lifelong friends I made there. But I am happy to be back in Canada to lead this amazing group and to help other blind people experience the things I gained.

I thank everyone in the CANADIAN FEDERATION OF THE BLIND and the executive for working so hard in my absence.

The CANADIAN FEDERATION OF THE BLIND is looking forward to growing in the coming year. Our blind youth mentoring program has started and we will be doing much more with this program in the new year.

Gail Copp organized a successful fundraiser this December, a screening of the documentary film “The Eyes Of Me.” This event was well-attended, earned money for the CANADIAN FEDERATION OF THE BLIND, and most importantly, educated people in a positive way about blindness.

As always, we are raising funds to help support those members who want to attend the National Federation of the Blind convention in Orlando Florida in July 2011. These conventions are the pinnacle of Federation life; they provide a way to meet new people and stay connected with old friends in the Federation; they offer a venue for learning about blindness, how to succeed as a blind person, and they build enthusiasm for the important work we do in the organization.

In the Canadian Federation of the Blind, we are continuing our advocacy work in the areas of getting proper training and rehabilitation for blind Canadians and bringing this important and largely neglected issue to the attention of government and the public.

I want to thank you all for your efforts: the work you do as individual blind people wherever you are in Canada or in the world makes a difference. Every time we accomplish something in our own lives helps others to know what is possible and sets a positive example. Every time we reach out in small ways to other blind people to support and mentor them makes a difference in our lives and in the lives of those we mentor.

I wish you a happy holiday season, and best wishes for the new year.

Yours in love and friendship.

Elizabeth Lalonde, President
Canadian Federation of the Blind