This week on The Lens: Living Diverse, Ben sits down with Anne Mok, a content creator, public speaker, author, storyteller, and advocate. Anne shares her identities and experiences as an Asian woman with sight loss who immigrated to Canada at a young age, reflecting on what her culture means to her. Once shy, Anne found confidence through the power of storytelling. With her calm presence, she shares insights on how to overcome challenges, embrace authenticity, and encourages others to share their stories. Whether you're looking for motivation or practical storytelling tips, this episode will leave you feeling empowered and ready to view life through a lens of purpose.

The Lens: Living Diverse – Finding Purpose in View with Anne Mok

Welcome to the first episode of The Blind Truth, where hosts Taylor and Vivi discuss the foundation for understanding sight loss by debunking common stereotypes and misconceptions about blindness and answering common questions. Plus, learn more about Taylor and Vivi’s roles within the CNIB Advocacy – Voices for Action team. 

The Blind Truth – Seeing beyond sight

In episode two of The Blind Truth, Taylor and Vivi explore how language has shaped the way we discuss and understand blindness since the 19th century. They’re joined by Dr. Vanessa Warne, a professor in the Department of English at the University of Manitoba, whose decade of research delves into the history of disabilities. With a focus on the early history of raised-print books and their readers, Dr Warne’s book, By Touch Alone: Blindness and Reading in Nineteenth-Century Culture, is forthcoming from the University of Michigan Press.  

The Blind Truth – How do we talk about blindness?

In episode three of The Blind Truth, Taylor and Vivi look at the student and parent perspectives of navigating the education system for students who are blind or have low vision. University student Zachary Abdalla reflects on his experiences as a student with sight loss in Alberta’s education system, while his mother, Chris Abdalla, explains how she instilled confidence in her son at school, while also allowing him to be independent.  Chris also leads the Access to Education Coalition in Alberta, advocating for the rights of children and youth with sight loss.  

The Blind Truth – Empowering the next generation

In the final episode of The Blind Truth, Taylor and Vivi examine the state of public transit in Edmonton and Winnipeg, highlighting the successes of CNIB’s Get on Board advocacy campaign and the work that still needs to be done to create safe and accessible journeys across Canada. They’re joined by Trevor Dennehy, Director of LRT Operations and Maintenance at Edmonton Transit Service, and Simran Bhinder, Accessibility Coordinator at Winnipeg Transit, who are passionate about educating the public and other transit agencies on how to improve transit accessibility.  

The Blind Truth – Pathways to progress: Making transportation accessible

In this episode of The Lens: Living Diverse, Ben chats with Sophia Alexander – a future social worker, passionate advocate, and proud Black woman of Grenadian descent. Sophia opens up about her experience being diagnosed with glaucoma and the impact of meeting other Black individuals with sight loss for the first time. She dives into the complexities of navigating vision loss in her personal life, career, and community, as well as the intersection of her many identities. Through vulnerability and strength, Sophia talks about how she came to embrace her sight loss and what self-acceptance looks like today. Tune in as Ben and Sophia celebrate resilience, representation, and the dynamic force that is Sophia – changing the narrative in every space she enters.

You can find Sophie on:
TikTok: @SophiaDynamic  
Instagram: @SophiaDynamic

The Lens: Living Diverse – Embracing Identity and Vision with Sophia Alexander

The CNIB Podcast Network is a collection of audio programming designed to give a voice to people across the CNIB community as they share their personal stories of life with sight loss. Listen to the episodes on any of the platforms listed below. If you enjoy what you hear, subscribe!

The Blind Truth – Pathways to progress: Making transportation accessible

CNIB / INCA

Related tracks