White Cane Week takes place on the first full week of February.
This important week of raising public awareness of the challenges facing Canadians living with vision loss is marked by events sponsored by CCB chapters within their local communities. Events vary from chapter to chapter, but all focus on demonstrating the abilities – not disabilities- of people living with vision loss.
CCB chapters across the country host a variety of events including, open houses, informational forums and more in their local communities to rais awareness and provide information to the public.
Although many chapters hold public awareness events throughout the year WCW encourages CCB chapters to make a coordinated “team effort” to host events during the specific time frame of White Cane Week to maximize the impact of the information provided to the public through open houses, public forums and other educational opportunities.
White Cane Week (TM) is a registered trademark of the CCB.
This year, in celebration of WCW, the Canadian Vision Impaired Curling Championship returns after a 5-year hiatus due to the pandemic. It is held in Sydney, Nova Scotia during WCW.
The Toronto Public Library has curated a special book list for White Cane Week: “Reading Beyond Vision: White Cane Week”!
These books reflect the stories of people who are blind or partially sighted. Explore the myths and realities of blindness, celebrate the achievements of blind athletes, musicians, and activists, or immerse yourself in another galaxy or an audio comic!
Please go to the following link: Link for the Toronto Public Library books
Help Celebrate White Cane Week 2024 in February
On behalf of the Canadian Council of the Blind and Fighting Blindness Canada, thank you for attending the 2024 White Cane Week Conference.
If you were unable to join us, or you would like to share the recordings with family and friends, you can access them from the following
10:00 am – 12:00 pm
View Point: Ask the Expert about Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD)
Fighting Blindness Canada presents a special event to recognize Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) awareness month. Join us for a full morning of interactive sessions with doctors and people living with AMD to learn more about this prevalent eye condition that affects over 2.5 million Canadians. Sessions will include a presentation about AMD by retinal specialist Dr. Bernie Hurley, a lived experience panel and an opportunity for you to ask your questions directly to the doctor.
12:45 pm – 2:00 pm
Canadian Survey on Disability 2022
The Canadian Council of the Blind presents a panel discussion with researchers from Statistics Canada about the 2022 Canadian Survey on Disability. In this engaging session, panelists will discuss how this data was collected, why it is important and what the results tell us about the prevalence of disabilities, including seeing disabilities, in Canada.
White Cane Week 2022 in February and Vision Month in May
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and as we hopefully return to norms, the Canadian Council of the Blind (CCB) found it necessary to split White Cane Week into two separate components. While we were able to celebrate White Cane Week during the first full week of February, many of our events have been switched to May’s Vision Health Month, when we intend to host our scheduled events both virtually and in person.
May Is Vision Month
Hil Day: Virtual
Hill Day will mark the launch of a month-long federal government vision advocacy stakeholder initiative. Meetings with government officials will be held virtually, in Ottawa, and with MPs in their ridings across the country.
Vision Month Summit: Virtual and Live in Ottawa
The Vision Heath Month Summit will take place on Monday, May 16 from 4:00-5:45pm at Christ Church Cathedral in the Great Hall, which is located at 414 Sparks St. in Ottawa.
Agenda: The summit will feature a discussion on achieving the vision health community’s push for a National Vision Health Strategy, a Vision Health Desk, and increased vision health research funding, along with how best to engage Canadians and government in preventing blindness and restoring sight.
CCB Vision Month 2022 Gala Dinner: Virtual and Live in Ottawa, 6:00PM-9:30PM
The Gala Dinner will take place at Christ Church Cathedral in the Great Hall, at 414 Sparks Street in Ottawa. The White Cane Person of the Year and CCB President’s Award will be presented. Luna Bengio, Senior Accessibility Expert and Special Advisor to the Office of Public Service Accessibility at the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, will be the Keynote Speaker.
Toronto Visionaries Experience Expo Consumer Show: Live in Toronto, 10:30AM-3:30PM
Experience Expo is a hands-on, interactive exposition encouraging visitors to engage directly with the services, tools, and technologies that impact the daily lives of those living with vision loss. Exhibitors will share their experience of providing creative, adaptive solutions to all aspects of life with vision loss through interactive exhibits, improving access and overcoming barriers to living a full, rich life. Our intent is to offer visitors as full of a sensory experience as is possible on the exhibition floor.
Experience Expo Forum: Virtual and Live in Toronto, 4:00PM-5:30PM
The CCB’s Toronto Visionaries Chapter will host its annual Experience Expo forum at the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre, 750 Spadina Ave (at Bloor West) in Toronto.
Expeience Expo Forum Agenda: A CCB event, the Forum will feature a panel of experts discussing a patient’s right to informed consent and full disclosure for whatever the treatment, including all of the informed therapies, their side effects, dosage frequency, all options, and costs (which should never influence what a patient is prescribed) before a treatment decision is made.
White Cane Week Schedule
February 9 4:00-5:30pm – Virtual WCW Expo Forum: Reforming Ontario’s Assistive Devices Program
I am providing 2 different links to various elements of the Expo Forum:
The Reforming Ontario’s Assistive Devices Program can be seen in its entirety from the YouTube link below
If we missed you, please take one of the opportunity’s provided to review our study’s findings and recommendations. Once again our apologies, lesson learned. I promise we’ll do better next time.
All the best,
Michael
February 22 4:00-5:30pm – Virtual WCW Preventable 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
Watch the event below:
(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.
“Survey Report Reforming Ontario’s Assistive Device Program” can be viewed below in pdf.