Did you go to any special celebrations for the 150 years of
Canada’s history? I have been thinking about what the world looked like then.
Coincidentally I have also been reading (or listening to) several books set in
the same era. One of these was the Full Story of the Titanic. It was
definitely a good read with some insight into the political and social outlooks
of the times.
I have also been thinking about CNIB. The Canadian National
Institute for the Blind was founded nearly 100 years ago and will be
celebrating its centennial year in March, 2018. The agency began as a service for
soldiers who were returning from World War 1 and who had been blinded in
action. From small beginnings as a reading room in Toronto, the agency has
grown to a national institution for Canadians with varying degrees of vision loss.
Particularly I have been thinking of how difficult life must
have been in those early days. I think this as I am writing on my computer with
an audible screen reading program. On the desk beside me is my CCTV Reader, a
device which enlarges print to a much greater degree than a hand held
magnifier. On my wrist I am wearing a watch with an audible function to tell
the time. Soon I will be sitting in my armchair to listen to yet another audio
book.
When I go outside, I will use my white cane but I also know
that many of the buildings I enter will have accommodations for my vision loss.
I will encounter ramps, curbs with brightly painted yellow lines, elevators which
announce the floor as the lift ascends and descends.
I am glad that as a person living with partial sight, I am
living now in 2017 instead of in those earlier days.
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