Message is clear it's time to focus on fine print Helen Henderson The Toronto Star, June 24, 2006 .......... . . . . Ironically, Clear Print and the institute's new identity were unveiled in the vaulted glass atrium of BCE Place amid a burst of sunlight so strong it neatly underscored Jutai's point. As a result of the strong sunlight, the print on the giant flat-screen monitors was all but obscured. But there was no obscuring the concerted effort to change the image of the organization that has a potential client base of some 600,000 Canadians coping with a significant vision loss. This includes everything from macular degeneration to glaucoma. CNIB, which relies on donors for just more than 70 per cent of its funding, has only about 100,000 clients on its books, leaving half a million people coping on their own, president Jim Sanders noted. The organization is involved in everything from vision loss support programs to public education and research into the prevention of eye disease, Sanders said. He also emphasized that more than 90 per cent of clients have some degree of vision, the message at the centre of two controversial TV spots promoting CNIB. Draft scenarios for the commercials drew a storm of protest late last year. In one scenario, a young person ridiculed a man wearing dark glasses and holding a white cane. The man then mimicked the kid's gestures. The other scenario focused on a woman with a guide dog walking past a construction site. When a construction worker removed his shirt, the woman took notice. Both ads were accompanied by the message "Not everyone who uses the CNIB is blind." Critics protested that the commercials not only made fun of people who are blind, they implied that blind people can really see and are just pretending. The two finished spots previewed this week included subtle changes. A white cane has replaced the guide dog and the construction worker no longer removes his shirt. But the basic message is the same. Sanders, who is blind, is adamant that it's the right message to introduce the public to the new-look CNIB. "Our research shows we've been losing connection with people under 50," he told the group. But critics like Judy Prociuk and Beryl Williams of the Coalition to End CNIB Monopoly (CECM) say the theme of the spots is not going to win any converts. They believe the ads merely ridicule, implying that people who are blind can really see and that it's okay to mock them. The coalition also believes CNIB has lost the trust of its clients. "Most of their employees are sighted, including those who work with the newly blind," says Prociuk. "They don't allow any meaningful input from people who are blind," adds Williams. "The format in which they produce materials is expensive, outdated and has been overtaken by technology. "Most of the people who work there are dedicated but the group that runs things won't listen to anyone else. "Anyone who criticizes is targeted as maladjusted." CECM's Mike Yale believes "a serious and comprehensive audit of every program and service" is needed, that many property holdings should be sold, with the proceeds redirected into "training community organisations and service providers to better assist clients who have a vision impairment." And herein lies another irony. Sanders agrees that services for people coping with vision loss should be provided by the health care system, not by a charity like the CNIB. If you break a leg, doctors set it and the health care system handles the after care, he told the crowd at the launch. If you lose your sight, doctors will do what they can, then the system hands you off to CNIB. If this country really cared about vision loss, it would cover more services and the cost of educating the public about prevention. Then maybe 600,000 people could be brought in from the wilderness. ...... Comments from blind consumers, specifically referring to the new CNIB PSA's: This is only going to cause persons with vision loss more problems Thanks cnib as though we didn't have enough to deal with! You lied to us by actually producing this crap when you said you wouldn't! guess we all know you can't be trusted never could never will! I and many others can't wait untill your gone! .... I saw the same commercial and agree with this email. The commercial makes it look like the woman is pretending to be blind then blows it by looking back. I also agree that it doesn't make any sense to the average viewer nor is it of any value to the CNIB. What a complete waste. ..... Subject: aebc Tasteless. In response to Lui's very valid questions regarding CNIB PSA commercial. First of all, and I will admit to having no personal knowledge of visual images being portrayed,the overall effect gathered by the descriptions of those more fortunate, I am left with the distinct feeling that, the commercial presents a confusing message that, is lacking in good taste, and devoid of any redeeming feature. . This being the case, one cannot but wonder why such PSA's were ever approved by the Corporate powers that b, as major components of the new Brand initiative. As for a more appropriate portrayal to accompany CNIB's attempt to broaden the scope of its Mission focus, I do not believe this could ever be clearly understood by simply focusing upon an already confusing concept of" Legal blindness". My take on this whole initiative is simply this: CNIB recognized decades ago that confineing its focus simply on "the Blind" and the prevention of blindness, it was restricting its ability to raise either its profile or the revenues to allow it to become the major player in all blindness arenas, at home and abroad. The first significant change was the addition of the Sight Enhancement Enterprise [ SEE]services. Geared toward individuals who were not actually registerable as "legally blind", therefore eligible for all recognized benefits, services and programmes available to Canadians whose sight loss places them within the medical definition of being "legally blind". This latest new and improved Brand is simply the extension of CNIB's corporate intent. It has always been blatantly apparent for the past four decades that, it is far easier to assist individuals with a high level of functional visual acuity though "legally blind". In many cases this is indeed a true fact. Now the stage has been set to move that agenda ahead by presenting a profile and image of understanding and concern about all those canadians who are potential requirers/requesters of VISION HEALTH services and programmes. In the meanwhile, and this must never be overlooked in this scenario, the broader the scope of focus, the greater opportunity for profile and revenue raising, continuing without transparent accountability or democratic representation from any of the targetted constituency. CNIB is unfortunately, continuing to trade on public misconceptions and fears, but being astute enough to remove any reference to the dread word"BLIND" for fear of upsetting its own applecart. It would have been more acceptable for the corporation to have change its name, as well as its profile and image. SERVICES to PERSONS with IMPAIRED VISION, with the acronym SPIV, would seem more in keeping with the New Brand initiative. One additional point, I would like to make that, trying to be all things to all BLIND people has never worked, so why expanding this concept be an improvement? ...... By defining your consumer base as a market leads to building dependence on services. Every company is attempting to keep you as a customer by building dependence and loyalty to their brand. This marketing Block quote start delivery system works great for products and services we want and use every day, but just like food, we need the basics to remain independent. Branding on foods raise the price of the actual food. Branding the needed mobility and other services raises the cost of delivery because of the overhead from marketing administrators. You should also note that creating a service based on dependence and constant usage has the cost of the consumer looking pathetic, poor cripples that cannot succeed in life. Nobody is going to hire you if you need to get instructions from the CNIB on how to get to places on your own. If you continue the story of only the CNIB supplying published content to people who cannot use conventional print, you will have a hard time getting a job working as a media consultant or anything in this field. Why even a marketing coordinator needs to be able to get information to base decisions. If you continue the myth that the CNIB is the only legitmate provider of accessible information, you will not work in this field. Anyway I am not against the CNIB providig independence skills, but I am against themn advocating for what I need when they are only worried about marketing their products and services, thus creating dependence. CNIB senior management have to raise enough money to keep themselves in jobs, but they do not really contrbute to service provision directly and indirectly when they only work on promoting dependence. Too costly folks! Block quote end ...... (Letter from Jim Sanders, President and CEO of CNIB, to a national consumer group of blind Canadians): July 13, 2006 Thank you for your letter of July 11 concerning CNIB's new look and direction and the materials we have distributed about our brand activities. As always, we appreciate receiving feedback from our stakeholder groups, and in particular from consumers. Let me try to address each of your points in turn. 1.You had asked about the development process around our new brand, and who was asked to participate. We involved a variety of people in the three-year period in which we developed the new brand, including employees, volunteers, donors, board members, the general public and CNIB clients. Clients were involved at every stage, from initial focus groups and discussion forums that helped us to understand the principles behind our new brand, to testing of the visual identity and tagline, and our decision to move to our new name, CNIB. We also had clients on our Brand Steering Committee, which provided leadership and direction for the entire process. 2.You asked about CNIB's new Public Service Announcements (PSAs) for television and wanted to see the text. It is unfortunate, but the written version of these public service announcements that went out earlier this year as a casting call did not have enough information to provide proper context. The text was also a draft only. In fact, there is little text in the PSAs, as most of the action is visual in nature. The text/voice over says simply this: "Not everyone who looks blind is totally blind. Nine out of ten people we serve have some vision. CNIB: Vision health, vision hope." The tone we were aiming for is respectful while still being humorous and thought-provoking. A variety of elements went into achieving this tone, from the look on the actors' faces to the music used, but the basic message is to challenge the idea that most people with vision loss are completely blind, and that CNIB won't serve you if you have some vision. A secondary part of the message is to affirm that people have the right to carry a white cane, even if they have some vision. These PSAs are airing right now on just about every television station in Canada, so I encourage AEBC members to have a look at them for themselves. We are extremely pleased with the feedback we have received so far about the PSAs. We have had new people calling to sign up for service immediately after they saw the spots on television. We have had clients who have low vision writing in and thanking us, because they feel we've gone a long way towards battling the misconceptions they face every day. Almost all of the feedback we've received has been positive so far. 3.You asked about the time we spent on the new branding initiative compared to the need to improve existing services. You also asked how we planned to reach out to a wider range of individuals without negatively affecting services to current users. I strongly believe what I have said many times previously. If CNIB did not go through this exercise, we would have faced a diminished future, one in which we would not be able to provide many services at all. In fact, a large part of why CNIB went through this process is because we hope to safeguard and improve our current services. With increased visibility from CNIB's brand - by all accounts long overdue - we believe that new corporate and government partnerships and new funding opportunities will put us in a much better position to provide our programs and services for clients. At the same time, we have been working for some time now to improve CNIB's service delivery model, to keep up with the increasing demands we anticipate from the growth in age-related macular degeneration and Canada's aging population in years ahead. We have made a number of changes to improve our service down the road. For example, we now have a new national call centre with a single-source 1-800 number which people can call for more information. Our Client Relations Management System will also streamline our service and create efficiencies. As you know, CNIB has gone through some difficult times financially in recent years, and change will not happen overnight. But we are working hard to turn things around, and our new brand will be one of the major tools we use to make this happen. 4.You asked "Has CNIB become ashamed that it was created to serve blind persons?" This was in relation to our decision to start using the term "vision loss" to reinforce the idea that CNIB helps people with many degrees of vision loss. Of course not. As you know, CNIB has always been proud of its history, including our well-known incorporation in 1918 in order to serve Canada's war-blinded as they returned from World War I. The problem is that most people who are completely blind already know about CNIB. They are not the ones we need to reach to make them aware of our programs and services. It is the majority - the vast majority, 90% - of people with vision loss who don't know about us that we are not reaching. It is far too common that people go without service simply because they do not know that CNIB can help them - and this is extremely unfortunate. This is why we will be using the term "vision loss" more often, a term that includes people with all degrees of visual impairment. 5.You asked about the production of our new national newsmagazine in Braille, and if we are considering alternative-format versions of our new national e-newsletter. CNIB Vision, our national newsmagazine, will be available in a Braille version (the other formats available are accessible print, audio CD and DAISY, and the publication will also be available online). CNIB Vision will be produced accessibly as well, but only in an electronic format. As it is a monthly publication, it would not be cost effective in terms of human or financial resources to make it available in hard copy print either. 6.You asked "Has CNIB developed a strategy to expand the provision of services to Canadians who are blind, deaf-blind and partially sighted by regular, community service providers outside the traditional charity model?" The answer is yes but unfortunately the progress is slow. In the past three years we have been successful in having the Canadian public library community endorse a report outlining how a nationwide equitable library system for all Canadians with a print disability could be served through a combination of local public libraries, the Library and Archives of Canada and CNIB. Money was allocated in the February 2005 federal budget that will allow the Library and Archives of Canada to coordinate the implementation of this mainstreaming of alternate library services. CNIB actively advocates to provincial departments of health to have vision rehabilitation services placed within a continuum of vision care services as are other health services such as physiotherapy. As many of your members might know, CNIB is working with AEBC and the Canadian Council on Disabilities to ensure CRTC monies allocated to improve the accessibility of telecommunications are used for mainstream solutions. Best regards, Jim Sanders President and CEO CNIB ........ Comments From Blind or Vision Impaired Consumers Obviously, Canadians with significant or total sight loss, would be wise to be seeking alternative blindness related service provision, somewhere other than the former Canadian National Institute for the Blind. This is nothing more than Empire building, employing the grosse use of deception and misrepresentation, in order to raise the increased revenue, required to create a false image of blindness and persons who are indeed BLIND, not just potential candidates for becoming so!! ..... Comments Addressed to Jim Sanders Your comments regarding alternative models of service delivery, stating that "we are a long way off" and your suggestion that governments would not institute and regulate standards for instruction and delivery of specialized skills are comments that frighten me. Your comments that insinuates that these services could not be delivered in a more effective manner other...ie through other venues such as an extension optometry...shows either a lack of vision of the possibilities or the inability to recognize that the CNIB are not currently delivering these services with any great effectiveness. The standards being set by Mohawk College and other such training facilities set good standards of instruction. Nurses are given training by various institutional and the standard of care across Canada is consistent...why would this not be true for specialized services for skills for vision loss? ....... Jim, I find it so interesting when people take history and attempt to contrive it to suit their own purposes. I guess our history books don't jive...no matter what your archives may indicate. I also find it interesting to that in any past promotions about the CNIB, it portrays Col. Baker as the mover and shaker behind the beginnings of the CNIB (perhaps a ploy by the CNIB to solicit the publics sympathy for the veterans or to solicit their endowments). But now, when the history is disputed you decide to present another image. Might I suggest that the meagre beginnings while quite possibly pre World Wars, the actual creation/formation came with Canadians response to Col. Baker. I am sure the staff at Mohawk College may not totally agree with your take on who was responsible for O&M and Rehab instructors accreditation...I personally know the effort made by the Mohawk staff and their involvement AER. me thinks that you are giving the CNIB too much credit here and it is a real slight on the Mohawk staff. You question the lack of standards and how provinces set their own standards as a way of defending the status quo or confusing the issue. The reality is what it is and there are differences from province to province (I don't agree with this, but its a reality). I hope you are not suggesting that the CNIB should set and regulate the standards nationally? I hope you are not arrogant enough to believe it should!! I am surprised that you would even mention education....once again giving the image that the CNIB has anything to do with public education or even that it should. I suppose the CNIB raised this issue and presented itself as the "experts"...when it should have let the teachers of the Blind who are accreditted deal with this issue themselves...don't you believe that these teachers as professional have the ability to self regulate. Education of the blind has been around a whole lot longer than the CNIB. I am really disappointed by the actions recently by the CNIB....who seem to be pulling at straws to keep this image alive or change its image. Do you honestly believe that reconfiguring of logos, branding and letterheads will truly change who you are? Personally I think the whole thing is a sham and shame on you for being a part of it. Is this an issue of what is best for the CNIB and the ivory tower it has built for itself?....is it about vision health and vision hope?....or is it about vision loss and how to deal with that loss and rebuild lives despite the loss? It is especially disappointing, coming at a time of cutbacks and layoff and growing wait lists. Personally I believe the best move that CNIB could make on behalf of Canadians who are blind or partially sighted or deaf blind is to cease any further direct rehab services...I can only imagine the immediate public outcry. The blind may suffer in the short term ( but hey they aren't getting much these days anyways....so not much to loose). But this action would raise the issue and the need to debate of the need for radical change and to provide alternate rehab service delivery and that wouldn't be in the CNIB's best interest and...... Most canadians are appalled to discover that the rehab needs for vision loss are reliant on charity and vision loss is not treated with the same respect as other life altering conditions requiring rehab services. So the way I see it...the only ones that are impeding progress and change is an agency that is so bent on serving its own needs and has forgotten it's original purpose. ...... familiar CNIB Administrative claptrap, Mr. Sanders attempts to justify the corporation's continued role in Canada's Blindness arena. Claiming all levels of Canadian Governments would never be either prepared or able to provide adequate Rehabillitation services or programmes for Canadians with significant or total sight loss. I beg to differ. Any service providing organization, unwilling to allow for meaningful elected consumer representation and proactive involvement in the overall deecision and policy making process, is in my opinion,in no position to consider its continued existence of any value or benefit to those it purports to serve and represent. Its latest fiasco, with respect to changing its public profile and image, clearly illustrates its ineptness to achieve even this self serving initiative, without managing to simply create further confusion and misconceptions about blindness and persons who are blind. There is a vast untapped pool of experts and expertise in the canadian Blind Community that, given the opportunity and financial resources,could design and develop a far superior and effective alternative service provision model across the country. As Jonathan Mozen, (New Zealand blind activist), stated so eloquently in the article that was posted to the list, any service providing organization is in every way totally beholden to those it serves and represents. This is the message consumers should be hammering home to CNIB, its funders and supporters. One question I have often posed on occaisions and in many forums: Who would really miss CNIB if it were no longer in existence, and what could not be provided more appropriately through mainstream services and programmes? ........ EDITORIAL BRANDING OR BRANDED AND STIGMATIZED? CNIB, by its very nature, is outdated, visionless and obsolete. Worse still, is that being an anachronism, it is the blind and vision-impaired Canadians who suffer--the very people the Agency purports to serve and represent. Dependency upon a charitable institution is not the way to build self-confidence, dignity and integration into the normal community life. No other group of Canadians is singled out specifically as a segregated segment of society, expected to meet their needs by relying on the auspices of an Institution, itself relying upon the fluctuating charity of average citizens. Vision-impaired and blind people resent this separate and unequal position. We expect full citizenship and equal rights and opportunities. Similarly, we wish to contribute in the ways all other Canadians employ to take part in and support their communities. CNIB does not represent our views or desires. It should be disbanded, and its few appropriate and acceptable programs and services absorbed by regular community services and systems. These community service-deliverers should be adequately funded and assisted with developing suitable training programs for their staffs. Their new mandate could be funded by the divestment and reallocation of CNIB's massive national property holdings and other assets. The Government must also bear its share of the added cost to community organisations. This is workable and economically prudent. It also would serve the needs of blind Canadians in new and exciting ways which would stimulate participation and integration, rather than dependency and isolation. We ask for your help in this challenge.