The Politics Of Blindness

The Politics of Blindness

Graeme McCreath

Table of Contents

Title Page

About this digital talking book

Table of Contents

Foreword

Preface

Introduction

1. Types of Blindness

2. The Early History of Blind People’s Experiences

The Image of Dependency

Noteworthy Lives

The Evolution of Educational Tools for Blind People

The Invention of Braille

The Braille Alphabet

Braille Production

The Beginning of Opportunities for the Blind

3. The Founding of the CNIB

The War-Blind and Rehabilitative Services in England

The Halifax Explosion

The Formation of a National Charitable Organization for the Blind

The Formation of a National Voice

Precedents of Direct Support for Blind People

Pensions for the Blind

Funding for the CNIB versus Direct Funding for the Blind

The CNIB and Direct Services

The Moral Advocacy of Sterilization

The CNIB’s Failure to Provide Service

4. A Question of Human Rights

Governing Structure

Policies of the CNIB Boards

Governing Boards

CNIB Membership Policy

Personnel

CNIB Issues and Answers

A Charitable Corporation?

Governmental Responsibility

5. The RNIB and the CNIB

The British Royal National Institute for the Blind

Retail Sales

Library Service

Bank Statement Service

From No Statements to Outsourced Statements

Education and Rehabilitation Services

6. The Unmet Needs and the BOOST Report

The Vision Canada Report

Summary

The BOOST Report

Main Objectives

Summary

The Formation of Alternative Groups

The National Federation of the Blind

The National Federation of the Blind: Advocates for Equality (NFBAE)

Canadian Federation of the Blind (CFB)

Alliance For Equality of Blind Canadians (AEBC)

7. Charities—Barriers to Progress

Public Perception

The British Guide Dog Association

The Begging Phenomenon

The Issue of Public Transportation

United Way and the CNIB

8. Succeeding Against the Odds

Pamela 37 : A Story of Resilience

Elizabeth: The Basic Tools for Success

Linda: Adapting to Blindness

Trevor: A Diagnosis Providing Workable Options

Larry: Resourcefulness

Ray and Gloria Sewell

The Goal of Education is Independence

Helping to Achieve Success

9. Blind People’s Vulnerability

The Stigma of Blindness

White Angel, Black Hat

Government Policies of Support

Provincial Disability Allowances

Long-term Disability

Issues of Public Transit

Courage and Persistence Required

British Columbia’s Continued Disrespect

Disabled Supports for Employment

Government Attempts to Address Disabled Employment

Recreation for the Blind

Audio Books for Libraries

The National Library of the CNIB

The Federal Consultation Process!

The Social Millstone

Man’s Best Friend

Guide Dog Charities

The CNIB Does Not Provide Guide Dogs

10. The Working Blind

Changes in the Workplace

Necessary Adaptive Equipment

Current Policy

Regular Upgrade Support

Employers and Peer Workers

Double Standards

Moving Forward

Principles for Supporting Blind Workers

11. Escape from Charity

Rolling Stones Free Concert for Blind Canadians

Blind Guinea Pigs

Blind People’s Rights

Recommendations for Kick-starting Change

U.S. Governmental Models

Afterword

A Manifesto for Blind Citizens

Let’s Get REAL

Final Words

Acknowledgements

Index

About the author

What People are Saying

The Politics of Blindness

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Title Page

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The Politics of Blindness

Graeme McCreath

Granville Island Publishing

About this ePub book

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Navigation of this ePub book is by chapter at the first navigation level and by section at the second and third navigation levels. Page navigation has also been implemented and corresponds to the first print edition.

This ePub book was produced by the Association for the Blind of Western Australia, at Perth Australia, January 2011.

This book is copyright and has been recorded by the Association for the Blind of Western Australia incorporated , for the sole use of readers with a print disability, in accordance with Section 200AB of the Australian Copyright Amendment Act 2006. No unauthorised copying, distribution, broadcasting or public performance of this work is permitted.

To support the production of ePub and digital talking books or for more information please contact the Association for the Blind of Western Australia at: +61 (08) 9311 8202 or by email at: dtb@guidedogswa.com.au

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Copyright © 2011 01 02 03 04 05 06 16 15 14 13 12 11

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior permission of the publisher or, in the case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from Access Copyright, the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency, www. accesscopyright.ca, 1-800-893-5777, info@accesscopyright.ca.

Editing: Lenore Hietkamp, Betty Stafford-Smith, David Stephens, Adriana W. Van Leeuwen,

Text and cover design: Ruby Pearl Productions Indexing: Bookmark Editing & Indexing Printed in Canada on recycled paper

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

McCreath, Graeme, 1946 The Politics of Blindness : From Charity to Parity / Graeme

McCreath. ISBN 978-1-894694-81-0

1. Blind—Canada. 2. Blind--Canada—Social conditions. 3.Blindness—Politicalaspects—Canada. I.Title.

HV1805.M33 2010 362.4’10971 C2010-907253-7

Politics of Blindness is also available in these formats: Braille : ISBN 978-1-894694-85-8 Audio : ISBN 978-1-894694-84-1 Ebook : ISBN 978-1-894694-86-5

Granville Island Publishing 212 -1656 Duranleau Granville Island Vancouver, BC

Canada V6H 3S4 www.granvilleislandpublishing.com

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I wish to dedicate this book to the approximately 80 percent permanently unemployed blind people in Canada.

In 2010, the Canadian Federation of the Blind (CFB), in conjunction with the University of Victoria, British Columbia, conducted a study on blind employment in Canada. Regrettably, the findings were shockingly similar to previous studies conducted over the last half century.

Each of us should be given the opportunity to work and earn a living. The values of a society are reflected in universal inclusion and the belief that true citizenship comes with a productive, rewarding life.

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Table of Contents

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About this digital talking booki

Forewordix

Prefacexiii

Introductionxix

1. Types of Blindness1

2. The Early History of Blind People’s Experiences5

3. The Founding of the CNIB15

4. A Question of Human Rights33

5. The RNIB and the CNIB45

6. The Unmet Needs and the BOOST Report57

7. Charities—Barriers to Progress75

8. Succeeding Against the Odds87

9. Blind People’s Vulnerability109

10. The Working Blind134

11. Escape from Charity144

Afterword152

Final Words154

Acknowledgements155

Index157

About the author166

What People are Saying167

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Foreword

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It is my personal pleasure to write a foreword to The Politics Of Blindness written by my old friend and fellow pupil from the Royal National College for the Blind, England, Graeme McCreath.

Not only is this a heartfelt appeal to Canadians to understand the history and background to the present situation for blind and partially sighted men and women across Canada but also, as I found, an insight into events which shed much greater light on the development of services, or lack of them, for blind people.

Above all, this is a call to action. This manifesto is not only for blind people to rally round and campaign for, but a call to those in government at every level to act decisively in favour of equality.

Whilst there are substantial differences in terms of the UK and Canada, as would be expected, it is clear that the desire for independence, dignity and equality are the same across the world. Quite simply, blind people wish to be treated as individuals, not some amorphous group, and to have support at a time when it is needed in a form which is neither patronising nor unaffordable.

Whilst reading the book I was struck by the development of support for those blinded in war. Not surprisingly,

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at this moment in the UK we are experiencing emotions ranging from gratitude to guilt in relation to veterans returning from Afghanistan (and earlier from Iraq). This leads to a perfectly rational demand for improved services and greater consideration for those leaving the military, than for civilians facing the same traumas. So, as Graeme points out, services have developed differently and attitudes towards blind people been formed according to the cause of blindness, rather than the outcome and consequent need.

As an outsider, it would appear that what we in Britain came to know as the ‘Third Sector’ (sometimes described as Civil Society) has developed somewhat differently in Canada from the experience in the UK. Certainly, there has been a tendency to a paternalistic approach in the past. However, blind people increasingly expect and demand to be part of the work force, partners in running organizations, having their voices heard.

Graeme makes a powerful case that it is the role of elected government to provide equality of opportunity by providing practical measures which make this possible. His book makes a coherent argument for this responsibility to be accepted directly rather than delegated to not-for-profit or charitable organizations.

Like Graeme, I accept that employment is the best pathway out of welfare and dependence. Like him, I believe that a fundamental role for government is to ensure the self-determination of every adult through the opportunity to use their talent and creativity, and therefore to have the opportunity to earn their own living and sustain themselves and their families. This shouldn’t be through benevolence, but through the principles of fairness and mutual self-help, as part of working in common for the benefit of all.

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This book provides a rallying cry so that the voice of users of services can be heard, and both the provision of services can be tailored by and shaped to their needs.

The anti-discrimination clause, which I was proud to contribute to in the extension of the Disability Discrimination Act , the creation of the Disability Rights Commission (now part of the Equality and Human Rights Commission) and the Office of Disability inside UK government, has enabled individual and collective experience of inequality and discrimination to be tackled head on. If we are to live in an acceptable and civilised world, society as a whole must reject the discrimination outlined in this book, such as the discrimination in the insurance industry. In laying out what should be done, Graeme is to be commended for positively pointing the way to radical change and modernity.

I hope therefore that this book, put together by sheer determination to be heard, will be read by a wider audience than those concerned about the position of blind men and women in Canada. The message is very clear; these are matters for us all and not just for those who find themselves at the receiving end, often with the best possible intentions of inappropriate or misdirected delivery of services.

Above all, we hope that the mainstream political process at Provincial and Federal level, might take note and accept their responsibility for responding to the voices of citizens who, clearly in the experience of Graeme McCreath, are not heard and are too often out of sight.

—Rt. Hon David Blunkett, Former British Minister of Education and Employment and Home Secretary.

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Preface

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I grew up in the 1960s in the United Kingdom where there was a distinct expectation that blind people would participate and function as effective, working members of society alongside our sighted peers. Whether the optimism of that era still prevails today in Britain is open to debate. However, in Canada, where I now live, for many of the blind, normal participation in society has been and still is difficult at best, and our standard of living is far below that of average sighted Canadians.

According to Statistics Canada, there are 87,000 registered blind Canadians and 25,000 of them are between the ages of 19 and 65, representing the potentially working blind. In 2005, the federal government in conjunction with the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) conducted a study titled An Unequal Playing Field: Report on the Needs of People Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired Living in Canada. This statistical analysis of unemployment amongst blind Canadians concluded that 75% or more remained permanently out of the job market. That was a shocking statistic because it matched the 1975 Vision Canada report on the national unemployment of blind

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people registered with the CNIB three decades earlier.

¹

Incredibly, there had been no change.

Cyril Greenland, Vision Canada: The Unmet Needs of Blind Canadians study. cassette. (CNIB 1976), 42.

One of the most significant contributing factors to blind unemployment is the negative attitude employers have towards blindness—a prevailing attitude that blind people are unable to capably perform work. Moreover, there’s a similar general public notion that blind people are incapable.

So how did this situation come into being, and why has it remained virtually unchanged for the last 100 years?

Blind children are certainly disadvantaged compared to their peers and must rely on developing extra skills in order to compete successfully in school and all walks of life. Our government initially chose to try to equalize this playing field by creating the Canadian National Institute for the Blind