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About Us

Canadian Deafblind Association - British Columbia Chapter

The Canadian Deafblind Association-BC Chapter (CDBA-BC) is committed to assisting all individuals in BC with deafblindness. We believe that individualized, life-long Intervention is a right for every person with deafblindness. All individuals who are deafblind should live in a safe, healthy environment while having self-respect and dignity.

The CDBA-BC is a registered not-for-profit charitable organization located in New Westminster, British Columbia. 

A girl in a wheelchair with her hair in a bun and wearing pink glasses and a pink flowered scarf putting her hand in a container of water with two other adults.
Exploring at the Vancouver Aquarium Wet Labs

Meet the Individuals in the Organization

Do you want to learn about our team and board of directors?
Maybe you are interested in joining our team?

A white with blue lettering banner with ‘June is Deafblind Awareness Month, Make a Wave From Coast to Coast’. Two woman are peeking out from behind the banner to the left and one woman to the right.

Meet Our Staff

A small group, however, we are a mighty team, with over 60 years of combined experience in the field of deafblindness.
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A woman supporting a boy as he stands in front of a large metal disk. They are reaching for the disk.

About Our Board of Directors

Our board of directors provide overall direction and has ultimate responsibility for all aspects of the activities of the CDBA-BC.
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A smiling woman wearing a front pouch. A young boy is in the pouch, laughing

Join Our Team

Interested in working with a child with deafblindness? We can connect you with a family and provide you with training.
Learn More
A smiling woman is leaning over a young man in a wheelchair at a table. She is helping him to hold a water pick to water his potted plants.
Virtual Recreation Program at Home

Annual General Meeting

Each year, the Canadian Deafblind Association of British Columbia holds an Annual General Meeting. All members are invited to participate and share in the events and happenings of the year.

Please click on the button below for access to the Annual General Meeting Reports.

Annual Reports

More Information

Are you looking for other resources? 

Links
The Starfish Story
Welcome To Holland
by Emily Perl Kingsley
Copyright©1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. 
All rights reserved. 
Reprinted by permission of the author.
 
I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability – to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel.  It’s like this……
 
When you’re going to have a baby, it’s like planning a fabulous vacation trip – to Italy.  You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans.  The Coliseum.  The Michelangelo David.  The gondolas in Venice.  You may learn some handy phrases in Italian.  It’s all very exciting.
 
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives.  You pack your bags and off you go.  Several hours later, the plane lands. The flight attendant comes in and says, “Welcome to Holland.”
 
“Holland?!?” you say. “What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy!  I’m supposed to be in Italy.  All my life I’ve dreamed of going to Italy.”
 
But there’s been a change in the flight plan.  They’ve landed in Holland and there you must stay.
 
The important thing is that they haven’t taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease.  It’s just a different place.
 
So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language.  And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
 
It’s just a different place.  It’s slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy.  But after you’ve been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around…. and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills….and Holland has tulips.  Holland even has Rembrandts.
 
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy… and they’re all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there.  And for the rest of your life, you will say “Yes, that’s where I was supposed to go. That’s what I had planned.”  
 
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away… because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.
 
But… if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn’t get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things … about Holland.
*     *    *
“The first way to ensure the successful development of a child who is deafblind is to commit to building a relationship with that child.”
Marianne Riggio
Remarkable Conversations