Our Story
Our Beginning
The Canadian Deafblind Association – BC Chapter is a registered not-for-profit organization that is committed to assisting all individuals in BC who are deafblind to achieve, with Intervention, the best quality of life.
In 1978, CDBA-BC formed as an organization when parents of children with deafblindness came together to create a Summer Intervention Program. Intervenors were hired to support school-age children and youth with deafblindness in maintaining skills acquired during the school year. The program also ensured that participants continue to utilize and practice their communication and social skills within their home and community and realize the goals established by their parents and school team.
This program has now grown to be available to families of children with deafblindness, from two years to graduation, during not only the summer but also during the spring and winter school breaks.
Next Steps
For many years CDBA-BC (CDBRA-BC at the time), saw the need for an Early Intervention Program to support families with infant and toddlers with deafblindness from birth through to Kindergarten. To provide the early years families with the much-needed support and understanding of their child’s unique deafblind needs, communication, deafblind intervention strategies, and to prepare the families and child for Kindergarten.
In January 2003, the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) approved the funding for the CDBA-BC Chapter’s Early Intervention Program. A family-focused, consultative program, providing deafblind education and training, while modeling deafblind techniques in the home setting for the families. We started with one family that transferred from CNIB in the Vancouver Area. As the program developed and we connected other early intervention agencies we realized that the child’s team also needed education and training in deafblindness. As the program numbers increased, families were being referred from all over the province, we were soon supporting families and their teams in the family home.
In 2007 MCFD provided additional funding giving us the capacity to support families and their teams with children with deafblindness province-wide.
Timeline
