Living Without Volunteers In The City Of Toronto

Well, here we go again! Shocker or shaker? It would be a definite shocker if Canadians only knew that for at least the past four years; Torontonians have been living without the help of volunteers. A definite shocker for Canadians to know that in Canada's largest city, blind and visually impaired Canadians are unable to find any type of decent volunteer service to help them with the basic tasks such as: Shopping, going to medical appointments, house chores, and so on.

About four years ago, the CNIB quietly cut its volunteer services to its clients and without even so much as a courtesy email or any other type of notification, blind and visually impaired persons living in Toronto found out by word of mouth that they had been deserted once more. It was a shocker to me but I guess that we should have seen this one coming. Up till then, the CNIB was systematically cutting all kinds of services but somehow many of us thought that they would have at least had the decency to continue their volunteer services to their clients. How wrong we were and how awful for this particular agency to have done this to their clients without any logical explanation but wait! The CNIB did say something when pressured to do so. They offered this explanation: They could not afford to keep their volunteer services running. Yes, that was their statement of the day.

As things stand today, if a blind or visually impaired person phones a volunteer service seeking a volunteer, almost always they are told to go to the CNIB and when the person tells the volunteer service in question that the CNIB no longer provides volunteers, well, the call quickly deteriorates into hesitation and a final answer of inability to help. So, where do we go?

If we do not have kind family members or friends or neighbours nearby to help us then we are doomed! If we do not have the money to pay someone to help us, then we are stuck and for the majority of blind and visually impaired persons living in Toronto, the paying option is out of the question. So, what do we do?

Here is the picture as I see it. Canada's largest city does not provide volunteers on a regular basis to help blind and visually impaired persons. The majority of volunteer agencies around Toronto seem not to want to or be willing to provide or offer their services to blind and visually impaired persons. The CNIB? Well, once again this agency has come up true to form and has deserted us. So for most of us, if we are unable to find a family member or friend or neighbour, we have a really hard time living quality lives. It is difficult to go grocery or clothes shopping without a pair of eyes to assist us. It is difficult for us to navigate the corridors and offices of those huge hospitals. When winter comes around, our lives are made even more challenging if we have to do it all by ourselves without sighted help.

Speaking about how the CNIB has once more deserted us: Well, a few weeks ago I happened to receive a Braille copy of their Vision Health Vision Hope newsletter and for old time's sake I decided to spend a few minutes just flipping through it and lo and behold! Here are some facts for you to ponder. First, they wrote this appeal as follows:

"Want to reconnect with our services? If you are a client of CNIB and are having new difficulties with everyday activities due to a change in your vision or support system we invite you to come back to see us again. Just leave your name and phone number on our client enquiry line. 416-486-2500 ext 8275."

Maybe we should give them a second chance? Or maybe I should be asking what brought this about? Is this for real?

The second item that caught my attention in this newsletter is when the CNIB made the following announcement:

"Did you know that the Canadian Red Cross provides transportation for the frail, elderly, and disabled in the community. The service is for those unable to use public transportation or private means. They provide reliable transportation to and from medical appointments, social events, shopping and rehabilitation programs, including CNIB appointments. Fees are based on the distance travel. For more information please contact 416-236-3180."

Bravo! Bravo CNIB! Once more, you have managed to not just insult our intelligence and humiliate us, but you have also unwittingly managed to embarrass yourselves. There is one major drawback to this announcement.

When I phoned the Canadian Red Cross a very pleasant call taker told me that they only provide door to door assistance. That is, after one is dropped off, they are left to find their way to their appointment. So, how would this benefit a blind or visually impaired person? Say for example someone who needs to go to a medical appointment at one of those huge down town Toronto hospitals where it is often difficult for an able bodied person at the best of times to find their way to their doctor's offices? Come now CNIB! What kind of a fluff off is this? According to very reliable sources, You somehow have ability to use volunteers to help with your computer training but lo and behold, you are not able to provide volunteers to help with medical appointments?

What many are telling me is this; the CNIB continues to use volunteers to perform jobs that should be offered to qualified blind and visually impaired persons

but if you look at this through the eyes of the CNIB this is the picture. The CNIB uses volunteers to assist in the running of programs such as its computer training classes and in so doing they are able to save themselves some money.

However, in doing this their volunteers are inadvertently preventing qualified blind and visually impaired persons from earning income but this does not seem to bother the CNIB.

Another thing: The CNIB has abdicated its responsibility to provide volunteers to their clients choosing instead to direct us to such places as the Canadian Red Cross but guess what? Other organizations do not have the services to fully assist us. Yes, they provide door to door transportation, but what are we to do when we get to our appointment if we are unable to find our way from the door to the required office?

I think that Canadians will be really shocked if they knew that Toronto the Good is not that good after all. Canada's largest city without a volunteer system to support its blind and visually impaired residents is simply not acceptable and it is time for us to start speaking out. According to the rumblings among many special needs Canadians,It is probably no shocker that the CNIB has chosen to use its volunteers to cut down on costs such as hiring qualified persons to teach its blind and visually impaired clients but it would probably be a shocker to the rest of Canada if they were to discover this. I'll let you be the judge of this one.

I'm Donna J Jodhan your free lance writer and reporter wishing you a terrific day.

If you require accessibility, research, and writing services visit
www.sterlingcreations.ca

If you require translation and language related services visit
www.translationpeople.com

If you visit www.untappedwealth.com/businessdesk.html you will learn the latest news on very important issues as they happen and you can check out my weekly feature called important answers to consumers concerns.

You can also check out my blogs under the category access and accessibility at
www.numpadplus.com/blog

To reach me please send an email to info@sterlingcreations.ca and I would also be delighted to send you a copy of our latest newsletter.

More commentaries.