Dr. Deborah Gold - Director, Research
Deborah Gold joined CNIB in 2000, and since 2002 she has been responsible for the development of CNIB's social research program. In this role, she has acquired funding for several key research projects and established valuable partnerships with academics and research funders. Dr. Gold holds a PhD in Special Education from Syracuse University (1995), focusing on social policy and disability. She has worked in the disability field as a researcher, academic lecturer, administrator, residential counsellor and recreation therapist.
She has published a number of books, reports and articles, and is the Principal Investigator on several of CNIB's national research projects, including our groundbreaking national needs study, and a study on success facilitators for employment. She has also overseen a research project on the vision-care needs of Aboriginal Canadians, and a social policy pilot project on access to low-vision services for seniors. She is currently co-investigator for two of our partnered research projects, one on print accessibility for medicine labels and the other on the lived experience of older adults with vision loss.
In addition to her work at CNIB, Dr. Gold also holds adjunct professor appointments in the University of Toronto’s Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, the University of Waterloo’s School of Optometry and the University of Western Ontario’s Department of Ophthalmology. She is also Editor-in-Chief of Insight (formerly AER Journal): Research and Practice in Visual Impairment and Blindness.