Our community: Shaping the Lens
CNIB invites industry leaders, innovators, researchers, and community voices to help shape the lens through which we explore employment, education, technology, and wellness for people who are blind or partially sighted.
Connecting the Dots, organized by CNIB, is Canada’s largest employment, education, technology, and wellness conference serving the sight loss community. Guided by this year’s theme, Our Community: Shaping the Lens, the conference centres lived experience, community leadership, and inclusive innovation—challenging traditional narratives while spotlighting solutions designed with accessibility at their core.
The conference features keynote presentations, panel discussions, armchair conversations, and lightning talks that examine:
• Inclusive and future-focused employment pathways
• Accessible and emerging technologies
• Education and lifelong learning
• Mental health, well-being, and quality of life
• Community-led approaches to independence and belonging
Our goal is to bring people together to learn, connect, and co-create, fostering dialogue that reflects the diversity, insight, and leadership of the sight loss community. We welcome session proposals that:
• Offer fresh perspectives or challenge conventional thinking
• Share practical tools, research, or lived experience
• Elevate underrepresented voices
• Demonstrate intersectionality across employment, education, technology, and wellness
Have an idea worth sharing? We want to hear from you.
Selected speakers will receive complimentary access to the conference on the day of their session.
Accessibility Commitment
Accessibility is foundational to Connecting the Dots. All presentation materials and handouts must be provided in accessible formats to ensure full participation. If you require support preparing accessible materials, please contact connectingthedots@cnib.ca. Thank you for helping create a welcoming, inclusive, and barrier-free conference experience.
Connecting the Dots Event Formats – Disclaimer
Connecting the Dots (CTD) and Connecting the Dots Lite (CTD Lite) are complementary CNIB conference formats designed to serve the sight loss community at both national and regional levels.
Connecting the Dots Conferences are CNIB’s flagship, large-scale events, bringing together a broad national audience to explore employment, education, technology, and wellness through keynote presentations, panels, and cross-sector dialogue.
Connecting the Dots Lite (CTD Lite) is an agile, boutique version of the conference. CTD Lite events are intentionally smaller in size and designed to circulate across underrepresented, rural, and emerging communities throughout the country. These events prioritize local voices, regional needs, and community-driven conversations while maintaining the same standards of accessibility, inclusion, and impact as the flagship conference.
Together, CTD and CTD Lite ensure that learning, connection, and opportunity are not limited by geography, allowing CNIB to meet communities where they are while continuing to shape a more inclusive national conversation.