The Blind Canadian, Volume 24, December 2024


The Blind Canadian is the flagship publication of the Canadian Federation of the Blind (CFB). It covers the events and activities of the CFB, addresses the issues we face as blind people, and highlights our members. The Blind Canadian:

• Offers a positive perspective and philosophy on blindness
• Serves as a vehicle for advocacy and protection of human rights
• Addresses social concerns affecting the blind
• Discusses issues related to employment, education, legislation and rehabilitation
• Provides news about products and technology used by the blind
• Tells the stories of blind people
• Covers convention reports, speeches, experiences
• Archives historical documents

EDITOR: Doris Belusic
PREPRESS, PROOFREADING & WEB DESIGN: Sam Margolis

The Blind Canadian, published by the Canadian Federation of the Blind, comes out in print and on www.cfb.ca in web and pdf versions

The Blind Canadian welcomes articles, resources and letters to the editor for possible publication.

Canadian Federation of the Blind
Douglas Lawlor, President
PO Box 8007
Victoria, BC, V8W 3R7
Phone: (250) 598-7154 Toll Free: 1-800-619-8789
Email: editor@cfb.ca or info@cfb.ca
Website: www.cfb.ca
Find us on Facebook
Twitter: @cfbdotca
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/CFBdotCA

In this issue


Grateful
In Celebration of CFB’s 25th Anniversary!
1999 – 2024

by Doris Belusic, editor

I want to express my gratitude to Dr. Paul and Mary Ellen Gabias for their work in bringing Federationism to Canada, to expose blind Canadians and our society to the NFB newer ways of thinking about blindness and of blind people’s capabilities. Not the older take-care-of-the-blind paternalistic charity model we’ve known in Canada for over 100 years, but a more modern model of blindness where blind people are in charge of their lives. We’ve learned to think differently, with more positivity, to hold higher expectations of ourselves and of society, we’ve learned the reality that blind people can and do succeed to live the lives they want. We’ve learned that with opportunity, inspiration, alternate techniques and technology, proper blindness skills training, and with group and self advocacy, we, as blind people, can dream bigger, lead full, independent, productive, successful lives. We’ve learned that we have power, that we can be proud of who we are, of how we manage, and of our achievements. Being blind is challenging, yes, even difficult at times, but the Federation tagline “Live the Life You Want” and the positive Federation philosophy are super guides and reminders for us.

A central theme in CFB and NFB is that we are all mentors and mentees, learning from each other. And who better to learn from and be inspired by than by those who live blindness daily, who walk in those shoes. It’s a comfort to learn how to do things from other blind people, as they have the lived experience and are experts in their field – and one gets the feeling that “if they can, then I can, too.”

The Beginning

Federationism began in Canada in 1992 when Dr. Paul and Mary Ellen Gabias arrived in Canada to live, and with them they brought the knowledge and experience of a new and better way for blindness to be viewed and treated, by both the general public and the blind themselves. This new way to think and be, came from their time involved with the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) in the United States. The Federation’s “can do” positive attitude and its philosophy stood out. It was something most average blind Canadians had never heard of in our country’s traditional, older-style charity model. The Gabiases knew this would be of great benefit to Canada’s blind, just as it has been since 1940 for the 50,000-member-strong movement of blind people south of our border.

Federation Philosophy

We are an organization of blind people speaking for ourselves.
We believe blindness is a characteristic and not a handicap; that blindness is not what defines us or holds us back.

We believe with proper training and opportunity blind people can compete on terms of equality with sighted peers. Blind people can do almost anything sighted people do, sometimes we just use alternative techniques.
We believe the real problem of blindness is not the lack of eyesight. It is inequality in society, low expectations, an old charity model, and the lack of positive information about blindness and the abilities and achievements of blind people.

We believe it is respectable to be blind and that the white cane is an empowering tool for independence and a symbol of freedom and pride.
Canadian Federation of the Blind (CFB)

CFB was incorporated in June 1999 and our fledgling organization began. Over the past 25 years, CFB has been active and influential in mentoring, education and in advocacy. You just need to read through some of the issues of our magazine, The Blind Canadian, print copies or on our website (www.cfb.ca) to see much of what we’ve been up to – from hosting CFB conventions, to funding attendees to the all-important, learning grounds of the large, annual US NFB conventions; from advocating for bus annunciation systems, to fighting guide dog/taxi discrimination cases; from advocating for equitable public library service, to advocating, involving a court case, against recent, widespread implementation of discriminatory, dangerous floating island bus stops due to bike lanes installation design. We even brought advocate Sarah Gayton to Victoria all the way from the UK NFB to help with the bus stop/bike lanes issue. And CFB, together with the Lions Club, has run the iPhone Project for the Blind, providing over 50 new iPhones to blind recipients in the Greater Victoria / Vancouver areas.

We’ve informed blind Canadians about the “long” white cane, and provided knowledge about the existence of intensive NFB blindness skills training centres in the US (Louisiana Center for the Blind, Colorado Center for the Blind, and BLIND Inc. in Minnesota), and we’ve advocated for the same here in Canada, since there is a lack of adequate, government-funded blindness skills training. We held a Rally for Change and Choice years ago, where many blind British Columbians marched at the BC Legislature, asking the government to fund blindness skills training. CFB assisted in funding Gina, a blind Victoria woman, to attend the Louisiana Center for the Blind – you can read about her nine-month training journey in her article “Free as a Butterfly” (The Blind Canadian, Volume 13). Elizabeth Lalonde was inspired to start her own NFB-style rehab training centre in Victoria, the Pacific Training Centre for the Blind, after her nine-month training at the Louisiana Centre for the Blind (her training generously gifted by the NFB). She documented her training in her blog, then in an article, “My Journey at the Louisiana Center for the Blind” (The Blind Canadian, Volume 5).

We’ve been hosting a listserv, a website, running meetings and holding annual AGMs where our all-blind executive board are elected. We’ve held many fundraising events, like our concerts, dinners, and fun trivia nights, and we’ve held socials, like our annual December holiday dinners. Our flagship magazine, The Blind Canadian, has been in publication since 2002. It is one of the best resources in Canada on blindness. (To learn more about our magazine, check out the article, “The Blind Canadian Magazine Celebrates 20th Anniversary!” in Volume 22; and take a look at The Blind Canadian page on CFB’s website.) And we’ve written and sent out a ton of advocacy letters over our 25 years. Plus, so much more!

CFB Presidents

Oriano Belusic,1999 (CFB inception) to 2003
Elizabeth Lalonde, 2003 – May 2012
Mary Ellen Gabias, May 2012 – September 2021
Douglas Lawlor, September 2021 – present.

CFB Conventions

We have held eleven successful CFB conventions, including
• ‘Believe’ in 2005
• ‘Moving Forward’ in 2007
• ‘The Blind Leading the Blind’ in 2008
• ‘Louis Braille: From Literacy to Liberty’ in 2009
• ‘The Journey’ in 2012
• ‘Breaking the Mold’ in 2014
• ‘Vote of Confidence’ in 2017
• ‘Organize’ in 2018
• ‘Employment-Empowerment’ in 2019
• ‘Choices and Goals’ in 2021 (virtual)
• ‘Positive Outlook’ in 2022 (virtual)

Some of What I’ve Gained Over Our 25 Years

Besides the camaraderie of meeting and knowing CFB members and many blind Canadians and Americans, I have gained so much in my association with CFB. Almost everything I know regarding blindness, I know because of my involvement with CFB and NFB. Being diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) in my early 20s, it took many years of gradual vision decline until I needed to start depending on a white cane and using some alternative blindness methods of getting things done.

I feel so fortunate to have been in the company of many very capable, independent and successful blind people, role models, who I’ve learned a lot from. Having met blind professors, blind teachers, blind lawyers, blind authors, blind business people, blind entrepreneurs, blind physiotherapists, blind musicians, blind leaders, blind students, blind parents, and so on. This all showed me that there need not be limitations to what’s possible, and helped to give me confidence.

The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) annual, national conventions of which I’ve attended three (New Orleans, Atlanta, Dallas) opened my mind big time, as it has done every Canadian I know who’s attended one. This is where one needs to go to experience blindness at its best and to feel the normalcy of being in a majority for a change. The knowledge and inspiration gained at these week-long conventions is life-changing. Imagine being in a hotel convention room with 3,000 other blind attendees! White canes and guide dogs everywhere! These conventions are organized and run by the blind for the blind – and what great events they are – from the speeches, to the Independence Market, the Exhibit Hall, to the dinner banquet – it really is the best learning grounds for the blind – and attendees come from around the world to be there.

Our CFB conventions, on a smaller scale, have been very informative and inspirational too, and fun, and we’ve had attendees from right across Canada and the US. All organized and run by CFB members. We’ve been fortunate to have had the company of NFB leaders at our conventions, like Dr. Marc Maurer, NFB’s then-national president, as well as Carla McQuillan, Oregon state president, who joined us at three of our conventions. We’ve had the late Mike Freeman, then-Washington state president. Also, virtually during the pandemic, we’ve enjoyed both the late Scott LaBarre, then-president of Colorado, and Marci Carpenter, current Washington state president. We even had NFB’s Braille Monitor magazine editor, Gary Wunder, attend our convention on Bowen Island. Good work, good company, good memories!

Thank goodness for white canes! I mean the long white canes used in the Federation – those that go from your chin or nose to your toes! Not the old-style up-to-your-chest shorties that aren’t as practical. It is through the CFB and NFB that I gradually became comfortable using and being seen with a white cane. Through mentors like Elizabeth, I learned the proper way to use the white cane – swing it left as you step right, swing it right as you step left, so you are always checking ahead with it. And it was Elizabeth who told me that you can feel driveway slopes with it – which, believe it or not, was news to me when I was new to using a white cane! I have always remembered her saying that at one of our conventions. Of course, over many years now of walking with my white cane, it is now a part of me and I am more aware of the information it gives me about my surroundings. I’ve learned to listen well to what my cane tells me. Thanks to CFB and NFB, I have learned to feel more independent, confident, comfortable and proud in using my cane, seeing it not as a symbol of disability, but of my ability to be mobile. It is the reason I can travel around and not promptly land on my nose, knees or butt somewhere I don’t want to be!

It is through CFB that I have gained the knowledge, experience and confidence to have functioned as Secretary – learning to take minutes and how meetings are run – and, that I have a voice. CFB is also where I’ve gained my early skills as editor of our magazine, The Blind Canadian. I am grateful to Mary Ellen who gave me my first experience in writing an article for the Federation’s previous magazine, and I’m grateful to Elizabeth who started up CFB’s current magazine and eventually passed along the opportunity for me to take on the role as editor, which I’ve done for some 15 years now. This has even proved helpful in boosting my own writing career.

I have been very encouraged by learning about the US NFB blindness skills training centres and have enjoyed hearing and reading about Gina’s, Elizabeth’s and also Danielle’s nine-month journeys through Louisiana Center. I have thought for years that I’d also like to gain better blindness skills and maybe one day would go.

Looking back over my 25 years in CFB, I’ve gained a lot, and I’ve given back too, as we Federationists do, and had good fun in the process.

Thanks Go Out!

Thank you to everyone, including our kind and generous sighted allies, who, over the past 25 years have supported the aspirations of CFB in bringing Federationism and its benefits alive in Canada, all for our betterment as blind Canadians.

Here’s to the next 25 years!