Access For Sight Impaired ConsumersAccess For Sight Impaired ConsumersSince 1998, Access for Sight-Impaired Consumers (ASIC) , formerly known as "Advocates for Sight-Impaired Consumers" has been advocating for independent and equitable access for Metro Vancouver area residents who are blind, sight-impaired or deaf-blind. Our origin dates back to a time when CNIB was receiving requests for advocacy assistance on matters that they had neither the resources nor expertise to accommodate. In 1997, in response to these requests, the District Board Chairperson along with the Client Service's Committee Chairperson developed the notion of calling a town hall meeting to determine consumer interest in forming an advocacy committee within their district structure.
In January of 1998, the concept of an advocacy coalition was presented to an audience of interested consumers, the desired outcome being the coordination of advocacy efforts initially in the Metro Vancouver region of BC. This coalition was to be comprised of 5 elected members-at-large along with a member representative for each of 10 regional or provincial organizations, some of which had been engaged in advocacy work in the field of blindness prior to the formation of ASIC. These organizations originally included: BC Association of the Deaf Blind, BC Blind Sports and Recreation Association, Canadian Council of the Blind BC-Yukon Division, Canadian National Institute for the Blind - Lower Mainland/South Coast Client Service's Committee, Crane Resource Centre, Fraser Valley Visually Impaired Person's Society, Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians (formerly National Federation of the Blind - Access for Equality) - Lower Mainland Chapter, Visually Impaired People's Club of Richmond, UBC Visually Impaired Students' Association and Western Association of Persons with Vision Impairment. As a result of this town hall meeting, a steering committee was struck to coordinate an independent, consumer-driven advocacy coalition and within a few short weeks, ASIC held its first official board meeting.
In the months that followed, the ASIC board adopted its official terms of reference and defined its mission statement, its mandate, goals and objectives. While ASIC began its operations with 10 member organizations, it was the clients and members of our member organizations that became the nucleus of our unofficial or "associate" membership count. All told, ASIC represented approximately 9800 Lower Mainland residents who were blind, sight-impaired or deaf-blind. Over the years, the structure of our board changed and evolved as member organizations ceased to exist or were unable to appoint representatives to the board. For this reason, we are now comprised of 6 member organizations and 6 elected board members who serve as members-at-large. In November 2004, the ASIC board approved a motion to replace CNIB's Lower Mainland/South Coast/Fraser Valley Client Services Committee with CNIB's BC-Yukon Division's Client Services Committee. In doing so, our unofficial or associate membership grew to just under 17,000 people affected by a vision loss.
Almost since day one, ASIC has addressed systemic issues that impact people who are blind, sight-impaired or deaf-blind. Our mandate recently expanded to cover residents throughout British Columbia, and we found ourselves on the regional, provincial and national stages with regards to a variety of issues. Over the years, the majority of consumer requests have been regional in nature. However, we have found ourselves assisting people from many parts of Canada and the U.S.
Most of our funding comes from private sources. While we do not have charitable tax status, we extend sincere thanks to those who have donated funds over the years. We extend a special note of thanks to the principals of BASIC (Blind And Sight Impaired Consumers), an organization that provides sensitivity awareness training to our local transit operators and has provided us with regular donations to fund the services we offer. Our resources and expertise are provided at no direct cost to the consumer seeking assistance, and we know our efforts will create a systemic improvement for the benefit of all persons affected by a vision loss.
In late 2007, our board reviewed our brand and logo and elected to update the name of our organization from "Advocates for Sight-Impaired Consumers" to "Access for Sight-Impaired Consumers". It was felt that this new brand better reflects our mission and purpose. The new name was officially introduced at our annual general meeting on May 12 2008.