CNIB hosting mobile hub in Brandon

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This article was published 11/10/2023 (1080 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For the first time, Brandonites living with vision loss will benefit from two days of programming from a national organization that provides advocacy, support and equal opportunities for people across the province.

There are 57,000 Manitobans who have vision loss, which is described on a spectrum from having no vision at all to partial sight, where vision is impaired but not lost, according to the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB).

Although technology has come a long way in providing accessibility for those who have vision loss, the biggest obstacle is still public perception, said Joanne Fabian, program lead community engagement with CNIB Manitoba.

“Attitude is the number one barrier so, changing how people think about individuals with sight loss,” said Fabian. “People with sight loss are capable of working just like any other individual, as well as obtaining degrees and going to university, even participating in sports and recreation events, pretty much everything.”

That’s why, Fabian added, CNIB is hosting a mobile hub today and tomorrow in Brandon — something it has never done before, and it’s looking for feedback and input from people of all ages in the community.

There will be several presentations offered over the next two days, including a virtual session with CNIB’s Tracy Garbutt, a guide dog co-ordinator who has had his dog for the last several years.

Other sessions feature an expert in home technology and a specialist who will present on computer coding for young people.

But the starting point of the CNIB’s mobile programming in the Wheat City, Fabian said, will be creating their strategic plan.

“With our five-year strategic goals, we want to make sure that we’re targeting programs that are from the grassroots, and we recognize that every community has different needs.

“So, we want to hear from individuals with sight loss in Brandon and find out what they want to see developed within the next five years,” Fabian said.

The CNIB was founded in 1918, for veterans returning home from the First World War, and in response to those who were blinded because of the Halifax explosion a year earlier in 1917, which killed 2,000 people and injured thousands of others.

But more than 90 years before those events came the invention of the braille code by Louise Braille, a French educator.

Braille created the system of raised dot codes enabling the visually impaired to read and write.

While Fabian agreed that braille is a key to literacy, education, employment and success in life, it has been technology that has helped bridge the gap for so many people with vision loss.

Phones have built-in applications like GPS and talk to text, and that has levelled the playing field, said Fabian, but so has another program within CNIB called Phone it Forward.

CNIB accepts donated phones that are cleaned up, updated, then different applications are loaded onto them, which are handed over to clients in need.

“So, not only can individuals read books and use the GPS on those donated phones, but they can also access what we call seeing AI, or seeing artificial intelligence programs to do various tasks,” Fabian said.

“They can scan products to find out what colour something is or use it with another person to find out what they look like, and even find out their age.”

The first day of CNIB’s mobile programming will be held at the Central Community Centre until 8 p.m., which includes a barbecue hosted by the Brandon Lions Club.

Thursday’s session runs until noon and includes the tech at home session as well as a presentation on vision loss rehabilitation, which will be held at the Brandon’s CNIB office, located at 345 10th St.

For more information, call 1-800-563-2642.

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com

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