The first full week of February
traditionally marks White Cane Week. CCB (The Canadian Council of the Blind)
recognizes this annual salute to the white cane with numerous events across the
country. If you live in Canada you might
have noticed some of these in your community. I want to tell you about two that
have come to my attention.
The first note is from my friend, Bill
Conway. Bill is a passionate advocate on behalf of people who are either blind
or partially sighted. Bill himself is completely blind and depends on his
trusted dog guide, Captain Midnight. During White Cane Week, Bill seems to more
than double his regular activities. In a recent email, Bill told me about one
of his many fund raising endeavours. Once a year during White Cane Week, Bill
takes the Captain to his local shopping mall. Once there, he removes Captain
Midnight’s harness and invites the passing public to give him a pat. He also jokingly
suggests that they might like to contribute twenty-five cents per pat to the
local White Cane Support Group. Bill
reported that it is quite surprising how much has been raised for the support
group in this way. Some years ago, Bill and his guide dog walked the length of
the Sunshine Coast Highway in BC raising both awareness and funds for guide
dogs. It’s amazing what just one energetic person with imagination can
accomplish.
The second event I want to tell you about was
scheduled in Ontario and you might want to check this out on the CCB website.
Once again, the Canadian vision Impaired Curling Championships were held at the
Ottawa Curling Club. I was especially keen to follow this event because I had
met the team from Nova Scotia in Sydney last summer. Louise Gillis, National
President of CCB, and other members of the NS Curling Team walked with me on
the Sydney segment of the White Cane Connections Walk in that city. This past
week they have been competing with seven other visually impaired curling teams
in the nation wide championship.
Well done all!
Enjoyed reading the blogs. Often wondered about you watching tennis as the ball is so small, it was exciting to hear about you at a real live game. Interesting about the guide dog in the plane, and so sad to hear about his losing his sight. I had a good laugh about the plug for the sink ( but I need to say you are not the only one to do this and I know someone who has all their sight that did the same thing, in a hotel)
ReplyDeleteDorothy