Triple Vision

"In this third episode on advocacy, the Triple Vision team connects the dots between the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1982 and the passage of the Accessible Canada Act in 2019. And who better to tell this story than two of Canada’s strongest advocates, who have been on the ground for many years making change happen? In this, our 16th podcast episo...

"In this second podcast series on the history of advocacy in Canada, the Triple Vision team covers the years between 1974 and 1982. We were fortunate to record this episode with John Rae just before his sudden death earlier this month. In this episode, John describes almost 50 years of tireless advocacy, beginning with the formation of the “Blind Organization of Ontario with Selfhelp Tactics,” or...

"In the early 1900s a young man arrived in Canada, ready to start a job as an organist for a Montreal church. But when the church discovered he was blind, they rescinded the job offer and, really, the rest was history! This week, the Triple Vision team starts a new series on advocacy in Canada. This first episode begins with the story of Philip E. Layton, the founder of the Montreal Association fo...

"The story on accessible books and libraries is still being written. In this third chapter in this series, the Triple Vision team speaks with George Kerscher, Chief Innovation Officer of the DAISY Consortium and senior officer of global literacy with the Benetech corporation of Bookshare, and Kieran LeBlanc, Executive Director of the Book Publishers Association of Alberta. Involved in accessible b...

In this third episode of a series on the history of the practice of eugenics in Canada, Peter Field speaks with Associate Professor Geoffrey Reaume of York University. Peter and Geoffrey discuss documents obtained from Library and Archives Canada, which show that the CNIB played an active role in the sterilization of Canadians who are blind in the late 1930s. The discussion begins with a letter fr...

"In this second episode of a three-part series on eugenics, the Triple Vision team talks to Brian Moore, Dr. Mahadeo Sukhai and Marc Workman. Brian shares his experience with discrimination during a pre-natal class involving the birth of his son. Dr. Mahadeo Sukhai explains the origins of eugenics, as well as the difference between the science of genetics and the practice of eugenics. And Marc Wor...

In this first episode in a new podcast series, the Triple Vision team tackles the difficult issue of eugenics. Eugenics as it was practiced in Second World War Germany is very well known, but in today’s podcast Triple Vision starts to peel back the layers of how eugenics was practiced in Canada from its very origins until today. You will hear stories from three blind and visually impaired women ab...

In this, our Valentine’s Day episode, the Triple Vision team takes a look at “puppy love” by tracing the history of guide dogs and issues related to public access and certification for our favourite furry workers. Hanna and David talk to Steven Doucette, the Client Services Administrator of Canadian Guide Dogs for the Blind, about guide dog history, and the history of this Canadian training facili...

In the last podcast episode, The Opening Chapter, the Triple Vision team traced the history of library services for blind Canadians from the 19th century to 2014. In this Next Chapter the team brings us up to date with interviews with representatives of the Centre for Equitable Library Access and the National Network for Equitable Library Services. David and Hanna explore how these public library...

In Canada, public libraries have been around in one form or another for about 200 years. On January 4, we celebrate the birthday of Louis Braille. Born in 1809, Louis Braille invented his famous system of reading 400 years after the invention of the printing press. In this first episode on the evolution of library services, the Triple Vision team talks to CNIB archivist Jane Beaumont about the fou...

In this sixth episode of Triple Vision, we do something different. We invite six members of the community to talk about how they see the current blindness narrative in Canada. What is wrong with the current narrative, and what should it be? Who is controlling the current Canadian blindness story? “The sad part is, we all look at the news as a news and information source, and it isn’t. It’s a drama...

While people who are blind have used some sort of cane to navigate the world over the centuries, the white cane became a standard mobility device in the 1900s. But, in recent history, attitudes towards the white cane have shifted. In this episode, David and Hanna take a world tour from Winnipeg to Zanzibar and the United States to explore the issues associated with white vs. coloured canes. Is it...

Join us on this week’s Triple Vision podcast, where Doreen Demas talks with us about the impacts of colonialism on her life as a First Nations woman from Manitoba living with vision loss. Doreen traces her life, from attending the residential school for the blind in Brantford, Ontario, to a regular school, to an Indigenous residential school in Brandon. She speaks openly about the duality of servi...

In this episode, David and Hanna speak with Jim Sanders, former Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB). Jim traces the history of the institute from its founding to its need to change in the current digital era. "Some of the strongest advocates in Canada have come out of the concern of CNIB, in the 70s and 80s and 90s, that they considered the organization...

This week, Hanna Leavitt and David Best speak with Dr. Serge Durflinger, a professor of history at the University of Ottawa. Serge penned a book called, "Veterans With A Vision: Canada's War Blinded in Peace and War," about how First World War wounded were the first advocates in canada to establish reshaped the way Canadians and successive governments perceived war disability and, in particular, b...

In the first episode of Triple Vision, the team behind the Pandora Project introduces themselves and the goals of the Pandora Project. David Best, Hanna Leavitt, Charlie Ayotte, Peter Field and John Rae all speak to the motivations of the project and team members, alike.

From the AEBC's Pandora Project and AMI-audio comes a new podcast that aims to tell the history and stories of blind Canadians. Join co-hosts David Best and Hanna Leavitt as they speak to historians, community members and those who were there for the moments that shaped the lives of blind Canadians for generations. Podcasts are released bi-weekly starting October 12th. Subscribe on your podcast pl...