What We Do!

cbm has been shining our light for over 100 years into the darkest corners of our world and transforming the lives of men, women and children with disabilities living in poverty.

Half a billion people in the world are struggling to survive poverty and disability. And that’s not including family members who are struggling to survive alongside their mom or dad, sibling or child who has a disability. View World Report on Disability.

We change lives People with disabilities are capable of living full and productive lives. To this end, we come alongside these men, women and children to help them be as able as they can be. Sometimes life-change means correcting or curing a person’s impairment through surgery, medical care and/or rehabilitation. Sometimes life-change means providing a person who has a permanent disability with rehabilitation, training, equipment, financing, education… all that he/she needs to live a full and productive life within their family and their community.		We build healthier and more inclusive communities A person's impairment is really not the biggest barrier they face. The attitudes and prejudices around them are much more limiting than not being able to see or hear or walk. We need to do more than help a person to become as able as he or she can be. We need to change behaviours and attitudes in the community around them. We do this through community support groups, coming alongside persons with disabilities and their families and advocating with them for access to available medical, education and employment services.		We shape the world The World Bank has gone on record to say that we won't make poverty history if we don't address the poverty-disability cycle. Disability is that significant a cause and consequence of poverty. We won’t meet the need on our own. We need to convince governments, in Canada and in the countries where we work, and we need to convince other international development organizations, that there is currently a world of people that their programs are simply missing.

Only 2% of children with disabilities in our world are ever given the opportunity to go to school. These children are the last to be educated, the last to get medical care and, in the tough times, they're the last to be fed.

In the poorest countries and communities, children born with disabilities are four times more likely to die than children without disabilities. 8 in every 10 of these children will die before their 5th birthday.

Our progress in 2010