Putting Into Context

Putting It Into Context

What is the Canadian Federation of the Blind?

Why Are We Here?

And What Do We Want for Blind Canadians?

Elizabeth Lalonde

Speech given at the Believe 2005, Canadian Federation of the Blind convention.

I welcome all of you. Thank you for coming and sharing in this exciting day.

And it is an exciting day for blind people because we are here: not to listen to others speak about us, or on our behalf, not to hear expert opinion about blindness, but instead to join together as colleagues, mentors and friends to speak for ourselves, to talk about blindness from our own perspective, and to participate in planning our own futures.

I am president of the Canadian Federation of the Blind. Many of you know the Canadian Federation of the Blind is modeled after the National Federation of the Blind in the United States. Now I will explain in more detail what the Canadian Federation of the Blind and the National Federation of the Blind are. What we do. And what we stand for.

One of our goals in organizing this convention was to demystify the FEDERATION and to help people understand our perspective on blindness.

Some of you may know about the Federation. If you are like most blind Canadians, you have heard roomers, innuendo and partial truths about the National Federation of the Blind. Well, we are here today to peal off the layers of mystery from the Federation and help people understand the reality.

Anything new and different often evokes a reaction of fear in people. And in Canada, the Canadian Federation of the Blind is new and different.

I will tell you about the first time I encountered the Federation and what first went through my mind.

Thanks to the hard work and fundraising efforts of Marry Ellen and Dr. Paul Gabias, I was one of the fortunate people who went to New Orleans back in 1997 to the National Federation of the Blind convention. A group of us went for free on this incredible adventure. But I don't think any of us at the time knew what we were getting into and how fortunate we were to get this opportunity.

All I knew was that I was going to some blind person conference in the south , maybe about 200 people or so, and I couldn't wait to see Bourbon Street and have a relaxing vacation.

Well, I was right about a few things. I was going to the South, and there were blind people there, and I did get to see Bourbon Street, briefly.

However, once I got there, I didn’t have time to relax, and the 200 blind people I had expected became in reality 15 times that number.

boy had I underestimated the size and scope of the National Federation of the Blind

As I sat in a room the size of a large banquet hall, and listened to the sound of 3000 people, mostly blind people talking all around me, and heard the tapping of white canes everywhere, and felt the energy of so many people gathered together in one place all blind people taking charge of their lives and feeling good about themselves, I was in awe.

Actually, I was overwhelmed. I had never heard of the National Federation of the Blind before this convention. How could such a large and influential and positive organization exist on the same continent for over 50 years, without my knowledge?

I came home exhausted, confused and motivated. And immediately started researching the National Federation of the Blind.

I haven't stopped since.

Throughout my life, an energy had lived in me -- a positive view of my own blindness and my abilities, a feeling of pride, but I never found a clear way to express this feeling, until I found the National Federation of the Blind. Finally, I had discovered a group of people who were blind and who didn't think blindness was a big deal, a group of people who used their canes unashamedly, and who made blindness seem ordinary and acceptable and best of all respectable. Finally, I had found my place.

Well, after that New Orleans convention, I joined the National Federation of the Blind, Advocates for Equality, which at that time was the Canadian version of the National Federation of the Blind.

Mary Ellen and Dr. Paul Gabias worked hard to create this organization and to bring Federationism to Canada. But despite all their efforts, the time had not yet come.

I worked in that organization for a couple of years, until it became evident that the National Federation of the Blind, Advocates for Equality was no longer following Federation approach and philosophy. So in 1999, a group of us separated to join our own organization, the Canadian Federation of the Blind.

Oriano Belusic got the Canadian Federation of the Blind on its feet and provided strong leadership through the start-up and development of our group. Without Oriano's help, I don't know what we would have done.

After a few years, Oriano wanted to take a break from his role as president and serve the group in other ways, and I was elected president in 2003. What a shock. I had no idea before that meeting that I would leave as president.

It is one of the best things that ever happened to me. I love the job, and grow with it more every day.

What is the Canadian Federation of the Blind, and what do we stand for?

We are a grassroots, nonprofit organization of blind people committed to the empowerment and equality of blind Canadians.

As I said, we are modeled after the National Federation of the Blind in the United States. We borrow philosophy and structure from the National Federation of the Blind and fit this into a Canadian context. We believe in a few main philosophies and base our activities and programs around these beliefs.

You may ask, what is all this talk about philosophy? What does it mean?

Well, it's simple. Unlike other organizations of and for the blind, members of the Canadian Federation of the Blind have more than just blindness in common. Our members also believe in some basic ideas about blindness and the abilities of blind people.

these include:

one. We are not an organization speaking on behalf of blind people. Rather, we are an organization of blind people speaking for ourselves.

unlike the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, which speaks for us, we are a movement of the organized blind.

We are blind people who make our own decisions, decide what is best for us, and plan our own futures. The key word is of. We are an organization of the blind, not for the blind.

2. We feel that with training and opportunity, blind people can compete on terms of equality with are cited peers.

we believe that blind people can do almost anything if we have the will to. And if we have the proper training and the opportunity to do so. You will hear more later about training and the National Federation of the Blind approach to rehabilitation for the blind.

3. We believe blindness is not a handicap, but a characteristic.

many organizations and agencies for the blind are based on the medical model of blindness, which views blindness as a severe medical problem. Instead, we feel blindness does not have to be a severe problem and with some good training and a positive attitude, blind people can do almost anything.

Of course, blindness can be difficult sometimes, and we all have days when we wish things could be easier, but in general, we believe that blindness is not the tragedy many people make it out to be.

4. The real problem of blindness is not the lack of eye sight, but the lack of positive information about blindness and the abilities of blind people.

We feel that the real difficulty is not the blindness itself, but the misconceptions and misunderstandings in the public about blindness and what we are capable of doing.

5. It is respectable to be blind.

This is my favorite. It cuts to the root of everything.

It means that feelings like: shame, embarrassment, inferiority -- all these negative emotions we have all felt at one time or another about being blind live no longer, not once you truly, deep down in your heart, soul and mind, believe that it is respectable to be blind.

Well, now that I've talked about what we believe. I will tell you a bit about what we do as an organization.

The three main categories of activities we do in the Canadian Federation of the Blind include: public education, mentoring and advocacy.

With public education: we feel it is important to educate the public about the abilities of blind people. This then makes it easier for us when we try to get a job, go to school, and participate in community life. If employers, teachers and other members of the public know about our abilities, they are more likely to hire us and accept us as full participating members of society.

Some examples of our public education efforts are:

of course our Canadian Federation of the Blind website and brochure.

And our magazine the Blind Canadian. We now have two volumes of The Blind Canadian filled with articles, essays and stories about the Federation and blind people living happy, active lives.

Other public education activities include our public appearances to talk and teach about blindness.

One exciting project we are pursuing this year involves our Braille is Beautiful blindness awareness program for children that introduces elementary school classes to Braille as a fun and interesting method of reading and writing.

with help from a Times Colonist Grant and funds from the National Federation of the Blind national material centre, we are taking the Braille is Beautiful curriculum to district 61 schools to talk about the importance of Braille as literacy, provide interactive activities for the children in Braille and talk about the abilities of blind people.

Another central activity we do in the Canadian Federation of the Blind is mentoring:

We meet together at informal gatherings, at regular meetings and at conventions to learn from one another, to gain confidence from being together and to further the cause of Federationism.

Members also work with each other to learn blindness skills, Braille, cane technique, technology, and life skills.

We are all equal. Some of us may have more knowledge and experience in some areas and so we work with others who may have less knowledge and experience, and those people may help us in other areas. It is a reciprocal and rewarding network of relationships.

In this way, people learn necessary skills, and they learn them from blind people who are using these skills every day. In the Canadian Federation of the Blind, it is truly the blind leading the blind.

Our third main activity is advocacy. Whenever necessary we lobby government, go to the media or other organizations to protect the rights of blind people and to make sure blind people are treated respectfully and fairly.

Whether we write a letter to the local TV station regarding a negative portrayal of blind people in the media, visit the local MLA office to discuss are concerns about cuts to audio book services, or campaign to get a blindness service provided by government instead of an un accountable private agency, we do what is necessary.

I think this gives you some idea of what the Canadian Federation of the Blind is, and what we stand for.

In closing, I want to tell you about my second National Federation of the Blind national convention this past July in Louisville Kentucky. This time I was prepared. My mom, my son Rhys and I spent the entire day traveling on 3 plains to get there, and it was worth it.

The National Federation of the Blind conventions are like nothing else. They include: workshops and seminars on a range of blindness issues from technology, to occupations, to education. There are meetings for blind lawyers, blind medical workers, blind entrepreneurs, and parents of blind children. There are dances, exhibits, a banquet and a camp for children both blind and sighted . And there is a general session with speakers who make you think, who make you cry, who make you laugh, who make you say to yourself, -- it's really ok to be blind.

I returned from Kentucky brimming with ideas for the Canadian Federation of the Blind and for blind Canadians, so many ideas I could hardly contain myself. This weekend's convention is a start. And we have put together a day of speakers who will talk about the Federation and its philosophies, perspectives and approaches to training, rehabilitation and the education of blind children. I hope it will give you a flavour for what we do, and why it is so important that we are here.

And that there are other options and other ways of thinking about and dealing with blindness.

Since returning from Kentucky this year, I feel even stronger about the importance of bringing Federationism to Canada -- the spirit of confidence, the spirit of group solidarity, the spirit of full participation in society and in life for blind people.

I feel that we must bring Federationism to Canada because we owe it to blind Canadians, and because we cannot afford to do otherwise.

I am here to tell you that Federationism in Canada is no longer a dream, or a far-off goal. It is a challenge. It is a reality. It is here to stay.