WBU Stands United with Ukraine and is Taking Action to Help
Dear members and colleagues,
Like nearly all governments, organizations, and concerned individuals around the world, the WBU condemns in the strongest possible terms the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This pointless war will cause tremendous suffering for people all over the world, particularly for those in Ukraine, and especially for Ukrainians who are blind or partially sighted.
War and disability are tragically linked together. This war will inevitably result in people acquiring impairments that lead to disability. How many people with disabilities will this war create? How many lives will be forever transformed due to the suffering of needless injuries?
And not only does war cause disability, but people with disabilities always suffer more during times of emergency and conflict. Today in Ukraine and surrounding countries, those who are blind or partially sighted are experiencing unimaginable challenges, challenges that are intensified by barriers to transportation, communication, and access to information.
The WBU calls on all governments and aid organizations involved in relief efforts to develop a disability inclusive strategy to ensure Ukrainians who are blind or partially sighted are not forgotten. We are working with our partners in the region to support all those involved in the relief efforts.
Since the start of the invasion, the WBU has been in touch with blindness organizations and blind individuals and has been exploring options to provide support to people who are blind or partially sighted in Ukraine and surrounding countries.
In the short term, the WBU has established the Ukrainian Unity Fund. Through this fund, the WBU will collect donations and work with partners such as the European Blind Union to direct resources where they are most needed. For any individual or organization wishing to provide financial support, please contact our office at info@wbu.ngo. Donations to the Ukrainian Unity Fund can be made via credit card, wire transfer, or PayPal.
In the medium and longer term, the WBU will work with partners to identify needs and provide appropriate supports. This conflict will no doubt have a negative impact on Ukrainians who are blind or partially sighted for years to come. We can expect significant needs in areas like access to assistive technology, blindness skills training, and of course mental health supports. In the coming months, the WBU will be forming partnerships to address these and other needs that will arise.
If you’re looking for ways to help, please consider donating to the Ukrainian Unity Fund. Every dollar raised will go directly to supporting relief efforts and helping blind and partially sighted Ukrainians get back on their feet after the crisis is over.
Contact:
Martine Abel-Williamson
President, WBU
+64 21 411 042
Martine.Abel-Williamson@wbu.ngo
Marc Workman
Chief Executive Officer, WBU
+1 (780) 721-7040
Marc.Workman@wbu.ngo
White Cane Magazine – 2022
Welcome to White Cane Magazine
- Learn About the Your Eye Care and Preventable Vision Loss Report.
- Read about treatments for Age-Related Macular Degeneration.
- How blindness is 75% preventable and when caused by Diabetes 95% avoidable.
- Recognize Optometrists as your primary eye care provider and your Ophthalmologists as the leaders of your eye care team.
- Read how the failure to deliver a national vision care strategy is costing Canada billions.
- Marvel as 5 people share their life experiences of living with blindness.
- See how clinical trials lead to sight saving innovations and how research is core to Fighting Blindness Canada.
- Read about the Canadian Council of the Blind and its advocacy for Canada’s blind, deaf-blind and partially sighted community.
Download the magazine in your prefered format below.
VISIONS – March
ADP Survey Report Findings and Recommendations
An Important Message from Your ADP Reform Working Group
Thank you for your participation and support in our efforts to reform Ontario’s Assistive Device Program (ADP). The ADP Reform Working Group is please to provide you with our “Survey Report Reforming Ontario’s Assitvie Device Program” authored by Dr. Keith Gordon, CCB’s Senior Research Officer and the study’s Principal Investigator. We invite you to take the time to review the Report’s findings and recommendations.
As the working group has stated throughout this initiative this Report was commissioned to provide Ontario’s vision loss community with the opportunity and tools necessary to enhance its efforts to reform the ADP, making it relevant to the community. To that end, we believe we achieved the survey’s primary goal, as outlined in the report’s introduction, having developed a rigorous and client-centred evidence base from which we are making recommendations to ADP governing bodies that are informative, substantive, and reflective of the needs of ontarians living with vision loss.
Your ADP Reform Working Group
The ADP Reform Working Group is led by the Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians (AEBC) Toronto Chapter and includes the Canadian Council of the Blind’s Toronto Visionaries Chapter, the CNIB Foundation, BALANCE for Blind Adults, Fighting Blindness Canada (FBC), the FBC Young Leaders Program, the CCB’s Get Together with Technology (GTT) Program, and the Inclusive Design Research Centre (IDRC) and OCAD University.
THE PREVENTABLE VISION LOSS AND BLINDNESS SUMMIT
White Cane Week’s Summit will be an in-depth discussion by leading experts in eye health, ophthalmology and optometry on just what is preventable vision loss and blindness. The discussion will also look at the main causes of vision loss and blindness and the burden it places on Canada’s health system. The panel will discuss where we need to go in considering the state of vision health in Canada, focusing on the following issues: the inescapable reality of unmet need; eliminating the COVID-19 backlog; and a call for comprehensive eye examinations for those most vulnerable, our children and an ever increasing, aging population.
TOPIC: Preventable Vision Loss and Blindness
KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Dr. Diane Van Staden (1)
SPEAKERS: Dr. Marko Popovic (2), Doug Earle (3), Dr. Keith Gordon (4)
DATE: Tuesday, February 22, 2022
TIME: 4:00-5:30 p.m. EST
(1) Dr. Diane Van Staden is an Optometrist, a public health professional and the optometry academic leader at the University of Kwazulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa. She enjoys an extensive background in public health and development within the field of global eye health and her research interests include a comparison of eye health in various global regions. It is in this context that she was the author of a study published in March 2020 in the Canadian Journal of Public Health, entitled: “The Universal Eye Health Imperative for Canada: An Inescapable Reality of Unmet Need”.
(2) Dr. Marko M. Popovic MD MPH (C), Department of Ophthalmology and Vision Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto.
(3) Doug Earle President and CEO, Fighting Blindness Canada.
(4) Dr. Keith Gordon Senior Research Officer, Canadian Council of the Blind.
VISIONS – February
EYE Health in Canada: An invisible crisis
Statement on Open Letter from Senators to Fast Track a Canad Disability Benefit
Article by Disability Without Poverty
Disabled Canadians applaud Senate support for the Canada Disability Benefit
(Toronto) – 43 members of the Senate of Canada voiced their support for a Canada Disability Benefit through an open letter on January 17, 2022. This is on the heels of an e-petition promoted by Disability Without Poverty that received 17,874 signatures from across the country.
“We hope that these demonstrations of resounding confidence will ensure that fast action is taken to make the Canada Disability Benefit a reality. The momentum to do the right thing is growing. A recent Angus Reid survey proved that Canadians want fast action. Our open letter signed by 200 prominent Canadians including former Lieutenant governor david Onley and artist Christa Coutu also echoed the call to fast track the benefit and ensure that it is jointly designed with people with disabilities. And now, 43 senators are joining our voices,” states Rabia Khedr, National Director of Disability Without Poverty.
“This guaranteed livable income will be an important step in providing people with disabilities the independence, autonomy and dignity they deserve. The COVID-19 pandemic has further deepened the financial difficulty of people with disabilities who were already struggling to afford their essential needs. Immediate action is necessary to prevent even more lives being needlessly lost to poverty,” states Michelle Hewitt, Disability Without Poverty Co-Chair.
ABOUT DISABILITY WITHOUT POVERTY
Disability without Poverty (DWP) is a grassroots disability-led movement formed to ensure disabled people are involved in the design of a Canadian Disability Benefit. DWP is staffed and directed by disabled people. Members of the Disability without Poverty movement include disabled people, their families, friends, service providers, and allies.
TORONTO VISIONARIES WHITE CANE WEEK 2022 EXPO FORUM
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Reforming Ontario’s Assistive Devices Program
This year’s Forum will be an in-depth presentation on a topic critical to those living with vision loss in Ontario and across Canada. Over the past year, the Canadian Council of the Blind (CCB), in partnership with the Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians, BALANCE for Blind Adults, the CNIB, Fighting Blindness Canada, and others, conducted a user experience survey of the Assistive Devices Program administered by the Ontario Ministry of Health. The Forum will focus on the results of this important study, including its findings, conclusions, and recommendations. The presentation will be led by the study’s research leads, including Principal Investigator Dr. Keith Gordon, the CCB’s Senior Research Officer, as well as Investigators Dr. Chad Andrews and Michael Baillargeon.
TOPIC: Reforming Ontario’s Assistive Devices Program
DATE: Wednesday, February 9, 2022
TIME: 4–5:30 p.m. EST