Remember for Nanaimo one quarter of a million BC people live with vision, loss and in white cane week. The kadian Council of the blind raises awareness of the talent and innovation of people who are blind and partially sighted. Since 1946 white cane week has used it as its emblem. The tool that blind and visually impaired people use to feel for obstacles and check out how this tool is changing.

The Nomos, Richard Harlow says it's like the shift from manual wheelchairs to motorized quote my we walk smart white cane has a eye and navigation tools built into it. They have. The handle has sensors that let you know that you're coming up to objects up to three meters away through vibrations in the handle. This includes things that shoulder and head height. It has a gyroscope and integration with Google, so the user can have their hands-free as google AI will, let you know through a speaker where they are and where they need to go.

How does this help Richard told me? Quote: white canes only protect you from objects at ground level. This means things sticking out at head or shoulder level or missed, so we walk into them. I got a neck injury from walking into branches on the sidewalk I couldn't tell they were there till I hit them.

We can also only react to objects that we tap with our King I suffered injuries again because my cane went through the holes of a chain-link fence, causing me to slip and fall down two flights of stairs on cement in the snow end quote, you can see Harlow demoed this on my Facebook page I'm grateful to learn how we can improve accessibility and inclusion for all people of all abilities and I'm encouraged by the strong support our government has heard for legislating to remove and prevent barriers that impede the full participation of people with disabilities.

Thank you, Richard, and thank you to the Canadian Council of the blind for teaching us about the effects of vision loss. How we can work together to create supportive, inclusive communities and the inspiring people pushing the envelope on tools.