The CNIB Strikes Again
It was a quiet evening last week when the loveable blindy organization known as the CNIB chose its moment to strike. Seen to the sighted population as an icon for all of blinddom, this organization has frequently been known to make people reach for their checkbooks with a number of heart-tugging tactics, the most common of which being the showcasing of little blind children and guide dogs, neither of which they have much to do with. But on this particular night, the CNIB took their methods of obtaining one’s hard-earned cash to a whole new level. I was doing some computer work and the rest of my family was in the next room watching television when there was a knock on the door. The caller turned out to be a representative from the CNIB, and boy did he have a deal for us. He explained that if we would donate $20 to the CNIB in order for them to help the terribly afflicted people with severe sight problems otherwise known as “those poor dears” (OK, so maybe he didn’t word it quite like that), he’d give us a free pair of sunglasses for our generosity. Now I’m sure you are already cringing, but it gets worse. These sunglasses are the kind one would purchase at a dollar store, and yes, the kind that every stereotypical blind person on the corner with a white cane rattling a tin cup would be wearing.
Now I am forced to wonder about CNIB’s motives in this rather unique campaign. Were they hoping that by giving the sighted population access to these horrifically unfashionable sunglasses, they’d be doing the blind population (who all wear these exact sunglasses of course) a service by bringing them into fashion when the sighted people started wearing them? Or do they want to have a bunch of blind look-alikes roaming the streets? If this is the case, may I suggest that on their next try, if a person donates $40 to this fine organization they receive a tin cup along with the sunglasses for their increased generosity? Oh, and maybe if they donate $60, they can receive either a mutt in a guide dog harness or a white cane depending on their preference? If they stood on the corner in their newly acquired blindy uniform for long enough, I’m sure they’d make enough money back to cover the cost of the initial $60 donation to the CNIB.
Though I find the CNIB’s tactics greatly amusing, I also find them slightly irritating. Isn’t the CNIB supposed to be attempting to minimize the stereotypes surrounding blind people? By giving the average Joe sighty a pair of sunglasses that scream “blind!” for donating $20, I’m not sure that they’re helping matters much. Hell, give them a CNIB pen or something for their selfless generosity (now that would make me laugh) but sunglasses? I really have to wonder what they were thinking.
On a final note, I’d like to know where the money is going; is it to support the creation of talking toilet paper so that we know when we’re done wiping? Or perhaps it’s going to manufacture some nice new Braille telephones? Oh, I do hope it’s put to the best use I can think of – designing cars that make it easier for our seeing-eye dogs to drive!
This article contributed by anonymous.