It’s high-tech with a digital variation.

Specially designed global positioning systems (GPS), handheld devices and electronic book readers are changing the way people with visual impairments deal with the world around them.

And adaptations of mainstream technological advances are also helping to improve their employment opportunities.

“Employers are much more open to looking at possibilities than they were 25 years ago,” says Bill McKeown, executive director for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind’s (CNIB) Alberta, N.W.T. and Nunavut division.

Jack Dagley photo, Business Edge
CNIB staff member Harold Grace demonstrates The Pico, a video-magnifying unit that is placed over reading material to assist people with impaired vision.

“Back when I first started, a lot of people could get into entry-level jobs and not move up. But with all this new technology, employers are realizing that just because somebody has a disability doesn’t mean that they can’t be an excellent employee – and that’s not just blindness, that’s across the board.”

To highlight the opportunities technology is bringing about, the CNIB has scheduled a series of open-house technology fairs across Alberta, with events this month in Medicine Hat, Lethbridge, Calgary, Red Deer and Edmonton.

Each open house is free of charge and open to all CNIB clients, family, friends and the community at large.

However, McKeown emphasizes that these events are not just for the blind or visually impaired. Part of the idea is to show employers, educators and the public in general how they could benefit, while at the same time assisting CNIB members.

“It will give them the chance to realize the capabilities of blind people,” says McKeown. “If they have the right adaptive devices, it enables them to do practically anything.”

This equipment includes VisuAide’s Trekker, a GPS unit designed to tell users what street they’re on or points of interest in an urban or rural environment, or its Victor Reader – a digital talking-book player that allows listeners to jump straight to a specific section, page or passage.

While company representatives will be on hand to answer questions and demonstrate the technological equipment, the CNIB said the fairs also mean that endusers have the chance to make suggestions to suppliers and manufacturers. This feedback, says McKeown, could help to refine, improve or create new products for what’s expected to be a growing market.

The number of clients the CNIB serves across Canada is currently about 105,000. That number is projected to double by 2015, and according to CNIB figures, every 10 minutes of every working day a new client requests help from the organization.

Figures also show that by age 65, one in nine people will experience vision loss that cannot be corrected. By age 80, that increases to one in four.

But while seniors make up the largest percentage of clients served at 64 per cent, the CNIB also reaches out to children – five per cent of its clientele – and working-age adults, who account for 31 per cent of members.

For VisuAide, a 15-year-old Quebec-based company located in Longueuil, near Montreal, response to its GPS device is particularly pleasing.

“Users are telling us our Trekker products raise their confidence to go outside and explore,” says Ivan Lagace, the company’s vice-president of sales and marketing. “Fitting in the palm of the hand, Trekker users can pinpoint exactly where they are, learn about area attractions and find out how to get to specific destinations.”

One version of the company’s product can be used in a moving vehicle.

“The user can access information while travelling by taxi or bus to know in advance the intersections to be crossed, when a destination is approaching and what route the driver is following,” says Lagace.

It is events such as the open house and products such as VisuAide’s that help the CNIB to get its message across, says McKeown.

“One of the other things we’re hoping will happen here is that potential employers who have visually impaired people working for them might come and see products that will allow them to employ more visually impaired people – or to help those who are already employed to do their job at the highest possible level,” McKeown says.

“Technology allows blind or visually impaired people to be a contributing member of society,” adds Ken Patterson, the CNIB’s co-ordinator of technical solutions. “We do job accommodations all the time. We go into the worksite, break down the tasks and find ways to adapt them so the person can still do their job.”

There are some exceptions, such as driving-related occupations, but Patterson says these employees could be trained to do other jobs. The important thing is to contact the CNIB before it is too late.

“Unfortunately, what sometimes happen is people come to us as a last resort,” adds Patterson. “For the people we can catch on the job, nine times out of 10 we can help them keep that job.”

Web watch:
www.cnib.ca/divisions/alberta