By Vivi Dabee
The very first advocacy toolkit created by CNIB Advocacy was included in the first edition of Equalize. The guides featured in that inaugural issue offered information for emerging advocates on understanding government, meeting with their MPs, speaking publicly about an advocacy issue, and using social media to advocate. Nearly 10 years later, these guides have stood the test of time and continue to be valuable resources that advocates across the country return to and consult.
We’ve grown with our advocates over the years, and our advocacy resources have expanded to reflect the changing needs of our community, with guides covering topics like understanding your legal rights in different situations, finding and accessing legal support, access rights for guide dog handlers, and requesting one-to-one advocacy support.
We also continue to collaborate with advocates across Canada to develop new resources based on the issues and information that matter to them. For example, to draw attention to the need for safe and accessible transit in rural areas, we recently collaborated with the members of the Rural Transit Advisory committee to create a Rural Transit Advocacy Toolkit.
We also developed accessible transit resources, including a guide for transit operators and a guide for taxi and rideshare providers, with practical tips to help operators and drivers better support passengers who are blind, Deafblind, or have low vision.
To accompany the transit operator guide, we’re producing a series of educational videos featuring Edmonton Transit Service operators and local members of the sight loss community. The videos will share passengers’ experiences using public transit, including the barriers they encounter, how those barriers affect their ability to travel safely and independently, and how transit operators can best assist passengers with sight loss.
To stay up to date on new CNIB resources and opportunities to get involved in our advocacy work, visit cnib.ca/advocate or reach out to us at advocacy@cnib.ca.