Yin Brown is a first-generation immigrant of Chinese descent. Her pronouns are she, her and hers, and she happens to be blind. Currently she is the Director, Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility (IDEA) at Abilities Centre in Ontario. Previously Yin worked as an Accessibility Consultant at City of Toronto, Manager, Advocacy at CNIB, Ontario , and Coordinator for Stakeholder and government relations at CBM Canada. In addition, she worked for many years in adult education and community development.

 

Yin’s passion is employment of persons with disabilities, for which she has led several advocacy and mentorship projects when she was under-employed. Having transitioned from being fully sighted to completely blind, Yin is astounded at how her employment prospects decreased in proportion to losing her sight, even though her work experience and education increased over the same period of time, showing that the lack of employment is mainly due to employers’ misconception of her abilities due to her disability.