Volunteer Leslie Yee named Holnbeck Award winner for 2018
Efforts to help the blind recognized at City Hall
Leslie Yee has won the Holnbeck Award for 2018, which recognizes a citizen whose volunteer work has enhances the lives of people living with disabilities in Peterborough.
Yee was presented with the award on Monday evening at City Hall in honour of her efforts to help the blind.
Yee is legally blind; she has lived with macular degeneration for years.
At City Hall on Monday, she received her award with her family and her guide dog by her side.
In an interview after she received her award, she said her extensive volunteer work has been a pleasure.
“It’s something that I really love to do,” she said. “It’s how I’ve met most of my friends.”
Yee is the treasurer for the Council for Persons with Disabilities in Peterborough, a group that promotes better accessibility and raises awareness of the needs of people with disabilities.
She has helped organize activities such as the Time in My Shoes program, which allow elementary school students the chance to speak to people who’ve experienced what it’s like to face barriers to inclusion.
The program also allows kids to try out assistive technology and mobility equipment.
Yee is also an ambassador for the local chapter of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) and she’s a peer-support group leader there.
Mayor Daryl Bennett, before presenting the award, quoted some of those who’d nominated her.
“One said she’s changing perceptions about what it means to live with vision loss,” Bennett said, adding that she was described as “inexhaustible” in her nomination.
The award was established in 1989 in the name of Gordon and Arbie Holnbeck, a couple that devoted their lives to helping adults with physical disabilities and children with intellectual disabilities. The Holnbecks' son, Brian, helped make the award presentation in the gallery at City Hall on Monday.
“I know my parents would be so pleased and proud to see people making a difference in the community they loved so much,” he said.
In her interview, Yee said she thinks Peterborough is “one of the more accessible cities” for people living with vision loss and blindness. But more than that, she said, local people are “fabulous” when it comes to helping.
“They know and understand the purpose of a guide dog – and they respect that,” she said, with her dog, Akira, by her side. “Everyone is just so receptive and open-minded.”
One said she’s changing perceptions about what it means to live with vision loss.” DARYL BENNETT Mayor