Dennis McCormack

Filed under: Themes, Blind Visionaries

If you’ve been following Irked this week, then you know that Dartmouth, Nova Scotia-based Dennis McCormack, founder and former editor of the Atlantic Braille Press, has been a tireless and vocal opponent of the Halifax Regional Municipality’s forthcoming bus pass policy change. Here are some samples from the myriad letters that Dennis has been writing to local newspapers, with additional clippings taken from an editorial Dennis wrote for the Chronicle-Herald titled “No winners in decision to cancel free transit passes” (published 2009-01-15):

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Filed under: Themes, Blind Visionaries

“This bus pass is a passport to socialization for us. There is an issue of justice here.”

The following terrific article, titled “Metro Transit nixes passes for blind,” appeared in the January 23-29, 2009 edition of The Halifax Commoner. It was written by Ryan Baker:

Dennis McCormack has used Metro Transit to get around Halifax Regional Municipality for more than 40 years, just like thousands of other Haligonians.

But McCormack is different from the people sitting around him on the bus. Nestled next to his bus pass is a plastic card from the Canadian National Institute for the Blind.

McCormack has a condition called albinism, leaving him with less than 10 percent visibility in his clear blue eyes.

For as long as he’s taken the bus, McCormack has used a courtesy pass from Metro Transit. Those free rides—for him and all visually impaired people—are coming to an end.

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