Karen Love, CNIB’s executive director for Alberta and Northwest Territories.
CNIB:
Changing What It Is To Be Blind by Rennay Craats - with photos by Riverwood Photography
I
t took two major events to spur the creation of Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB). The First World War and the Halifax explosion of 1917 both left a large number of people with sudden vision loss. At the time there was little support for blind Canadians and Colonel Edwin Baker, who lost his sight in Ypres in 1915, returned to Canada and became the pioneer behind CNIB. Veteran rehabilitation experiences in Europe armed him with a new modern approach for helping the blind and a realization of how important those resources were in Canada. “They had been treated at a hospital in London, England and they brought a revolutionary philosophy back to Canada. There were seven Canadian men, several of whom were blind, who founded CNIB in 1918 to meet the demand for support of blind Canadians,” says Karen Love, CNIB’s executive director for Alberta and Northwest Territories. Under Colonel Baker’s guidance as managing director for 42 years, CNIB broke down barriers for blind Canadians. The organization’s employment programs were among the first for the blind across North America and employment rates rose significantly for visuallyimpaired Canadians for the first time ever. As CNIB grew and spread across the country it became the largest private not-for-profit charitable organization of its kind in the world. It endeavoured to change attitudes and increase
opportunities for blind Canadians, and those efforts are still at the forefront of CNIB’s mandate. “Today’s philosophy is change what it is to be blind,” Love says. “We really feel that whether you have full vision or vision loss you should have access to the same opportunities.” CNIB has worked hard to make that goal a reality. It implements a more inclusive, integrative model to promote greater independence, quality of life and career success regardless of the client’s level of vision loss. Whether the client is blind or partially
Serge, Guide dog.
CNIB | 100 Years | 1
93