With CNIB’s help, world gets wider for visually impaired

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This article was published 02/12/2017 (2877 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In 2008, Robb Hempel began to lose his sight.

He was diagnosed with diabetic retinopathy, which claimed his vision within a year. Hempel was a young man at the time, just 33, and he’s the first to tell you he’s stubborn. He approached his vision loss as a challenge, and wasted no time connecting with CNIB to learn the skills he’d need to live his new normal. He learned to read Braille, he learned to cook, he learned to get around the city.

CNIB provides community-based support to Manitobans who are blind or partially sighted. The programs on offer range from mobility and travel instruction to independent living. Three years ago, CNIB started providing a work experience program through its low-vision store, Shop CNIB, which sells products for people living with partial or total vision loss. Hempel was among the first to go through the program.

“We thought it was a valuable tool for blind or partially sighted individuals to re-enter the workforce,” says Debby Cuninghame, manager, operations at CNIB.

Indeed, folks could learn lots of transferable skills, including customer service, administration, and inventory tracking by working at the shop. Trouble was, Shop CNIB wasn’t set up for people with no vision or low vision to work there.

So Hempel, along with Shop CNIB employee Chloe Porter, devised an entire system that would allow people of any vision level to work in any part of the store — often using the very technology sold in the store. They used the PenFriend audio labeller to label the products on the shelves, so that a visually impaired employee could simply listen to a message that included the price, description and stock number for an item, and then locate the corresponding label on the stock in the back. And that’s just one innovation the pair came up with.

“Working there gave me my independence and confidence back for sure,” says Hempel.

As of last July, Hempel, now 41, has been working at the Apple Store. The job is a natural fit; he uses Apple technology every day.

“I can do anything with my phone,” he says. “If I ever lost it I’d be in big trouble. It’s my GPS. It’s my eyes to read a menu in a restaurant. Anything you can think of, my phone can do.”

He says it’s rewarding to be able to empower visually impaired people who now seek him out at the Apple Store. “I feel it’s necessary for me to help the next person because of how much help I got,” he says.

CNIB is a core-funded United Way agency partner. They enter into three-year funding agreements and CNIB receives just over $400,000 per year.

“The funding they provide not only enables us to provide quality of life programs, but vision rehabilitation as well,” Cuninghame says. “Their support has been invaluable over the years in terms of orientation and mobility instruction by our specialists, independent-living skills, low-vision services — because with vision loss, it’s all about the continuum of care. Somebody wouldn’t be able to go out and get a job if they can’t navigate the streets using a white cane or guide dog. They support a full spectrum of services that tie into together.

“We wouldn’t be able to do the work we do without the support of the United Way Winnipeg, for sure.”

Winnipeggers who would like to donate can do so online at UnitedWayWinnipeg.ca/give or call 204-477-UWAY (8929).

jen.zoratti@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @JenZoratti