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The 2022 Summit will be a two-day virtual event and will be held on February 7th and 8, 2022. The summit will welcome dignitaries from across Canada and persons with disabilities to solicit feedback on “proposed updates to Clearing our Path” guidelines published by CNIB on accessibility for people with sight loss. The two- day summit will be through the online platform vFairs, a virtual and hybrid event platform that is embedded in Zoom Webinars to give attendees a unique virtual experience. CNIB has used the VFairs platform over the past 2 years for similar virtual events and has found that the platform is navigable with assistive technology.
The summit will include virtual breakout rooms to facilitate discussion around a multitude of different topics and to solicit feedback from stakeholder groups. Breakout rooms will be capped at no more than 15 participants, where feasible, so as to facilitate dialogue. Keynote speakers will also be invited to the event to speak about their research findings and their work.
Below is a tentative agenda of the Clearing Our Path 2022 Summit
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 12:00 p.m. Atlantic |
Summit Start Time |
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12:00-12:45 p.m |
Opening remarks |
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12:45- 1:00 p.m |
Introduction of Summit |
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1:00- 2:30 p.m |
Concurrent Sessions 1 |
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2:30 - 3:00 p.m |
Wellness Break |
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3:00 - 4:00 p.m |
Keynote Speaker Peach Research Unit. Findings from Health Research about Accessibility in the Built Environment. Presented by: Mikiko Terashima, Ph.D Mikiko Terashima, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at the School of Planning, Dalhousie University. She is an urban planner and social epidemiologist with research focuses on accessibility in the built environment, and inequalities in population health and wellbeing. Mikiko leads a research laboratory called Planning for Equity, Accessibility, and Community Health (PEACH) Research Unit, which has worked to promote more ‘meaningfully’ accessible built environment and critically examine current planning and urban design practices. Her recent research focus has been on how to develop more meaningful measures to assess accessibility in public spaces, and how these measures can be better presented in a way that clearly communicate the accessibility needs to planners and design professionals as well as the public. PEACH is currently collaborating with CNIB to add multimedia components to the Clearing Our Path guidelines. PEACH has also partnered with the Nova Scotia Accessibility Directorate, the Rick Hansen Foundation (RHF), and local community organizations to devise ways to better incorporate knowledge and expertise of persons with disability and older adults to planning and design practices. Over the last five years, Mikiko has supervised over 30 planning students (bachelors and masters) for research projects on accessibility in the built environment. Speaker |
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Mikiko Terashima, Ph.D
The School of Planning, Dalhousie University
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4:00 - 5:30 p.m |
Concurrent Sessions 2 |
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5:30 p.m |
End of Summit Day 1 wrap up. |
| Time | Session | Discussion Papers and Bibliographies |
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12pm Atlantic |
Summit Start Time. |
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12:00 - 1:00 p.m |
Keynote Speaker Chris Downey, Designing Spaces for the Blind. How an architect who became blind in 2008, is using his experience and skills to create accessible and enriching environments for the blind and visually impaired. |
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Chris Downey, AIA is an architect with over 30 years of professional practice - continuing without sight since 2008. Leveraging this altered perspective as a unique value, Chris now specializes in universal design for projects for the blind and visually impaired including eye clinics, rehabilitation centers and schools for the blind while also consulting on other projects including museums, cultural centers, tech offices and transit centers. He has been featured in numerous media stories including “60 Minutes” with CBS News, has exhibited internationally including the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and speaks globally with a TED talk that has been viewed well over a million times. Chris is also the president of the California commission on disability Access, is the immediate past chair of the San Francisco LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired Board of Directors and has been a guest lecturer for the UC Berkeley Department of Architecture. Speaker 
Chris Downey
President, Architecture for the Blind
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1:00 - 2:30 p.m |
Panel Discussion: Panel Discussion: Accessibility Legislation in the Built Environment. How Could Legislation Bring About More Accessible Public Spaces? Panel discussion to be about accessibility legislation in the built environment. Does the legislation help? Does it go far enough? How could legislation bring about more accessible public spaces? Facilitator Lesley MacDonald Includes 30 min Q&A Speakers |
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Gerard (Gerry) Post
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David Lepofsky
CM, O. Ont, LLB
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David Kron
Barrier Free Manitoba
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Lesley MacDonald
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2:30 - 3:00pmWellness Break
3:00 - 4:30 p.mConcurrent Sessions 3
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4:30 - 5:00 p.m |
End of Summit Day 2 wrap up. |
