Hello Everyone,

Welcome to The Invisible Vision Project’s Blog.

In today’s Blog, I would like to share with you, an exceptionally unforgettable evening I had yesterday, Friday August 26th at the CNIB Night Steps in Kingston, Ontario. The CNIB Night Steps is a 5km fundraising walk under the stars. Participants with their family and friends, together raise funds to support people living with Vision Loss have the opportunity to experience CNIB’s Lake Joseph Center, which is a fully accessible lakefront facility located in Muskoka. Every donation or gift made to the CNIB will ensure individual living with Vision Loss to have the necessary skills and confidence to live their lives to the fullest.

I became a client at CNIB for just a little over a year ago. For this past year, my life and my perception on Vision Loss has changed dramatically. I no longer feel that I am the only person who is going through this loss from the deterioration of my vision; I no longer feel ashamed of my disability, or that I am a burden to my family and friends. With the support from CNIB, I now feel that I have a community that I belong to; I feel more confident, capable and stronger than I never felt before. The CNIB has helped me in so many ways in just a year,  I can be just as confident and independent as anyone else. Therefore, that is why I help fundraise and walk for CNIB, to help more people living with Vision Loss.

In terms of the event, it was such a wonderful late-summer evening, to come out and participate in the walk; and of course, I was so glad that I didn’t have to do this alone, so I had someone accompany me, which was really nice! In addition to the good weather and with a good accompany, what has made the evening even more incredibly memorable was that I had such an honor to meet with one of my most admired motivational speaker-Molly Burke, in person!! (So exciting!~). Prior to meeting with her, I’ve read and watched many amazing stories from this incredibly brave and inspiring young woman, it has touched the heart of many people, no matter young or old. However, seeing her speaking at Night Steps, it really has brought tears to my eyes! And of course, I also had an opportunity to sit down with her and had conversation together for a while, I was overwhelmed with joyful emotions to talk with someone that I look up to as a role model, it truly is emotional, and I would never forget this experience!

And as for participating the walk, I think it generally went well. But, I will admit that I was nervous, and this is because of many reasons: one in which is that the path we took was very, very dark, and for someone who has Night Blindness, I couldn’t see anything at all! But of course, this is when my White Cane does its job in guiding me safely. So, for this matter, I do give myself (and also my cane) some credit and say that “Yay, we did it!”

To conclude, it was such an incredible night that I had at the CNIB Night Steps in Kingston. I feel great about being able to give back to CNIB and to the community that has helped me to become a more confident and independent person; I feel happy that I had the opportunity to meet with Molly; I also feel proud that I am able to help someone else, as I always like to help others to the best ability that I can. The night, it certainly was one of my most meaningful and also memorable night of 2016, and of my life.

Thank you for reading to the end!

By: The Invisible Vision Project