About Us

Mission Statement

To increase awareness of rights and responsibilities, so blind, deaf-blind and partially sighted individuals can have equal access to the benefits and opportunities of society.

History

The Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians (AEBC) is a consumer group of blind, partially sighted, and deaf-blind adults, parents of the aforementioned and other interested individuals, with a common goal to preserve and enhance the rights of such persons in Canada through public education, advocacy, and other initiatives.

Founded in British Columbia in 1992, the AEBC has achieved several important milestones, continues to work to overcome obstacles and has become a uniquely Canadian organization that intends to expand and increase awareness for the future.

The AEBC was founded out of a desire for equality and empowerment of blind people in Canadian society, built as a progressive consumer organization of blind individuals. In the early days, a major goal of the AEBC was to convey the message that public misconceptions about the abilities of persons who are blind, and not blindness itself, was the primary obstacle. The group worked to convince blind persons to take charge of their own lives.

One of the earliest efforts made by the founders was to expose blind Canadians to the concept of "federationism", by encouraging them to attend the US based NFB conventions. It soon became clear, however, that there was a definite need for a strong consumer organization to work on self-expression and advocacy in Canada. As the AEBC has evolved, the organization's work has focused on increasing the government's awareness of the concerns of blind and partially sighted persons, building community support and working towards garnering respect from other agencies for the value and work of the organization.

The AEBC has worked hard to reflect the beliefs of blind Canadians with the organization continuing to be controlled by its membership and has responded to Canada's unique social, geographic, economic and legal systems having developed policies and programs in harmony with Canadian values.

Achievements

The first of these was gaining legitimate charitable status. The organization then began publishing its own magazine, the Canadian Blind Monitor, a national magazine devoted to issues, concerns and achievements of persons who are blind. The magazine is currently produced in Braille, print, on audiocassette and electronically.

The AEBC sponsors a Scholarship Program, offering financial awards annually to outstanding Canadian students who are blind, partially sighted or deaf-blind.

Our Mentorship Program provides blind mentors to assist young blind persons and blind adults to adjust to their new circumstances, examine career options and become more independent.

We have also supported the parents of blind children to attend conferences in the United States and England.

Future Goals

To work towards increasing relevance to the blind community. This may mean providing value added services to encourage people to become part of the organization. To continue the work on forging a consensus between organizations for the blind at national and provincial levels. To make larger, more powerful organizations more accountable to their consumers and the individuals they report to serve.

For this to be accomplished AEBC must achieve meaningful representation by blind consumers in the operation of these organizations. To use public education as a vehicle to improve the unacceptable levels of unemployment and poverty among blind persons in Canada. Most importantly, to provide ways for blind people themselves to communicate what they want and need and to use that information to forge a national consensus and a strong cohesive national consumer movement of blind Canadians.

It is through this work, past, present and future that the Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians will achieve recognition as a leading voice of blind consumers, and assist them to participate more fully in all aspects of Canadian society.

Affiliations

• Member of the Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD)
• Associate member of the North American-Caribbean Region World Blind Union (WBU)
• Member of Association of Sight Impaired Consumers (ASIC)
• Member of Ontarians with Disabilities Act Committee (ODAC)
• Member of Advisory Committee on Accessible Transportation (ACAT)
• Member of Canadian Transportation Agency Advisory Committee (CTA)

Charitable Registration

The Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians is a registered charitable organization. Our Registration Number is 89564 8335 RR0001.