CNIB’s 2023-2028 strategic plan
Built on the direction and feedback of people who are blind, partially sighted, or Deafblind across Canada, The Way Forward is CNIB’s five-year strategic plan, which we believe will create lasting change for our community nationwide. Learn more about it at cnib.ca/wayforward.
Discovering The Way Forward
In 2021, we embarked on the largest consultation process in our history, reaching out to thousands of people with sight loss and their families across Canada – of all ages and from all walks of life.
Our goal? To better understand what our community wants and needs from us, now and in the years to come, and to create a strategic plan that drives us to meet those needs.
- Hosted 45 community consultations (in-person and virtual), with 1,300+ participants nationwide
- Deployed three surveys in nine languages that were completed online and over the phone by 4,800+ respondents
- Executed 6-week text message campaign, with 6,400+ responses
- Held focus groups (in-person and virtual), with 125 participants
What we learned
Through our community consultations, we heard many of the same themes come forward from the people we serve. Here are three of the most common and urgent themes we heard:
- Our community wants us to change attitudes: Lack of awareness about the realities of life with blindness and sight loss is the underlying barrier that creates most of the issues for the people we serve across all parts of their lives – issues from lack of employment opportunities to accessibility barriers to unequal education experiences to social exclusion. Time and again, our community members told us their greatest challenge isn’t what they can or can’t do, but what the rest of the world believes they can or can’t do.
- Our community wants us to help remove barriers to transportation: People with sight loss continue to loudly voice that transportation barriers are among the greatest they face, whether they live in rural or urban environments. The issue? Inaccessible transportation systems and built environment barriers that put the community of people with sight loss in dangerous and stressful situations when travelling.
- Our community wants better support for kids and families: Parents are saying it loud and clear: they want better support and outcomes for their kids, both in and out of school. Kids who are blind or have low vision aren’t receiving the classroom support they need to excel, while parents who are blind are often unable to participate in their children’s education, as assignments, report cards, and other critical communications aren’t provided in accessible formats. At the same time, parents report a distinct lack of awareness about living with sight loss among medical professionals, which leads to a lack of information, resources, and guidance.
Our commitments
From this key feedback, we established our three commitments for The Way Forward strategic plan:
- Attitude Is Everything: Increase understanding of blindness and dispel misconceptions about people who are blind, partially sighted, or Deafblind. Select this link to learn about how we’re taking action to change attitudes.
- Safe and Accessible Journeys: Remove barriers and create safe, accessible door-to-door journeys for all. Select this link to learn about how we’re taking action to make transportation safer and more accessible.
- Our Kids Will Thrive: Give parents and children the support they need to excel in and out of the classroom. Select this link to learn about how we’re taking action to help kids and families thrive.
To learn more about our strategic plan or read it for yourself in one of several accessible formats, visit cnib.ca/wayforward.