Advocate

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Help us break down barriers

To create a truly inclusive world where people with sight loss have unlimited opportunities, we need to raise our voices and bring down barriers once and for all.

Advocacy Campaigns

By learning about the issues and joining our advocacy campaigns, you can help make tangible change in your community.

Advocacy Programs

When facing barriers to inclusion, knowing how to advocate effectively for yourself and others is key. CNIB advocacy programs and workshops can help you develop and strengthen your advocacy skills. 

A long, straight rural road stretching into the distance. It's a foggy day and there are puddles on the surface of the road. On either side of the road, there are grass fields, trees and power lines.

Campaign Spotlight

Rural Transit Advocacy Toolkit

Transportation is more than getting from point A to point B, it’s how people get to work, school, access health care and other essential services, and stay connected to their community. Where transit is limited or non-existent, people are left isolated. Reliable transportation gives people autonomy and the freedom to fully participate in their communities and live the lives they choose.

CNIB's Rural Transit Advocacy Toolkit will provide you with information and strategies to help you advocate for rural transportation in your community.

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Equalize Advocacy Newsletter

Stay up-to-date on CNIB advocacy campaigns, initiatives, programs and meet local advocates. Distributed quarterly, Equalize is CNIB's advocacy e-newsletter.

Read the current issue of Equalize
Subscribe to Equalize

Deliver a municipal election that is accessible, inclusive, and equitable for all electors

Download our election guide for local governments

Created by CNIB, the Accessible Election Guide for Local Governments provides municipalities across Canada with guidance and considerations for planning and delivering more accessible municipal elections for voters who are blind, Deafblind, or have low vision. It covers election policies and procedures, voting locations, election technology, staff training, voter communications, procurement, community engagement, and more.

Download the guide
A senior woman wearing headphones uses an accessible touchscreen voting machine, with her hand on the tactile controls beside the screen.

Advocacy Resources

CNIB has created resources to support community members when engaging in advocacy in their local communities, whether as a formal CNIB Community Engagement Volunteer, a person living with sight loss, or an ally who wants to help bring about change. 

One to One Advocacy Support

If you need help addressing an accessibility barrier or need individual advocacy support, our team may be able to help! CNIB advocacy support services are here to give you the tools and resources you need to take action and confidently advocate for yourself.

Know Your Rights

Through the creation of plain language legal information handbooks and resources, Know Your Rights aims to empower people who are blind, partially sighted or Deafblind to better understand their rights, navigate provincial legal systems and self-advocate to challenge discrimination. 

CNIB Legal Support

To help provide greater access to justice, we are now offering legal support (referral services and litigation funding) to Canadians who encounter legal issues they may require support with as part of the CNIB Advocacy program.

CNIB Presentations

From classrooms to city hall or speaking to corporations, CNIB volunteers regularly deliver educational and informative presentations to external groups about blindness and ways to create a more accessible society. 

Structured presentations cover topics like accessibility and inclusion, blindness etiquette, assistive technologies, white canes and guide dogs, CNIB programs and services, and more. Presentations can be tailored to fit the unique needs of your audience and customized to your group.

Help dispel common misconceptions about sight loss and learn how your group can become more inclusive by inviting us to speak at your next event! 

Two Community Engagement Volunteers deliver a presentation in front of a large group of school-aged children sitting in a gymnasium.