Press Release

We're Changing Our Name!

February 2005

We're changing our name! The National Federation of the Blind: Advocates for Equality (NFB:AE) is scheduled to become Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians / L'Alliance pour l'ÉgalitÉ des Personnes Aveugles du Canada, (AEBC) on March 10, 2005.

"We want equality to come first in our name because we insist on equal access to the benefits, opportunities and responsibilities of every other Canadian," says John Rae, AEBC president. "We want to be mainstreamed into Canadian life."

A small group of people who are blind and partially sighted formed the NFB:AE in 1992 while sitting around a kitchen table in Kelowna BC. Feeling marginalized, they believed existing services and rights for the blind were either non-existent or inadequate.

"Until the mid 70's people with disabilities were served and represented by others and we largely lacked our own voice," says Rae. "So in the early days of the NFB:AE a major goal was to change public perceptions about the abilities of people who are blind. To do that it was necessary to convince blind people to take charge of their own lives."

A majority of the organization's members voted for the new name at a lively Special membership meeting last October in Toronto. "We're membership driven and respond to what our members want," Rae says, "its what separates us from the CNIB. I feel this is a positive step forward for us."

Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians / L'Alliance pour l'ÉgalitÉ des Personnes Aveugles du Canada, has ambitious goals, among them to use public education and advocacy to improve the level of income and employment among blind Canadians. Part of this, Rae says, will be accomplished by aligning with larger advocacy organizations. "This will force the changes required by business and government that block blind citizens from being truly equal Canadians."

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