The Canadian Council of the Blind has proclaimed February 2nd to 8th as “white cane week,” which aims to raise awareness about the challenges visually impaired people face on a daily basis and educate others on what kind of help is out there to help those with vision loss. In Regina, the week gets rolling with the annual media bowl at the Golden Mile Lanes featuring members of the media, City of Regina, members of the Lion’s club, and those who are blind.
“It’ll be two games of bowling and we play two frames at a time, so it should be a lot of fun,” said participant Coty Raketti, who admits it was a learning curve trying to bowl blind.
“Every little adjustment you make with your feet can do a lot when you go to throw the ball down the lane.”
(Pictured L to R: Coty Raketti and Cody Glydon)
Monday, February 3rd will mark the 52nd year for the bowling event and, surprisingly, the score is pretty close between the media and those who are visually impaired. As of 2024, the media has won 27 games while the blind have won 24 games.
Lions Clubs across Canada are also advocates for those who are visually impaired and offer support in several different ways. Over the years they have developed numerous programs to ease the life those who have poor to no vision. They collect used eye glasses and ship them to people who really need them, they help provide guide dogs, and created the SightFirst program which is a partnership with doctors to fight the major causes of blindness and assist those who are dealing with a visual impairment. According to Lions International, 1.1 billion people around the world suffer from near vision impairment because they don’t have glasses. In addition, it’s estimated 253 million globally have moderate to severe distance vision impairment or are completely blind.
“They give us rides to our bowling events and come out for our CCB (Canadian Council of the Blind) suppers,” explained Raketti.
The Canadian Council of the Blind is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of those who are visually impaired through sports, socializing, and mentoring. They also act as advocates on behalf of the blind in various provinces across Canada including in Saskatchewan.
The media bowl starts at 10am on Monday , February 3rd.
