Series consists of case files from all regions of Canada documenting the relationship between the CNIB and individual clients. Typical files include a brief summary known as a "Face Sheet"; a registration form; a registration questionnaire; medical assessment reports, including a standardized "Report of Eye Condition" and "Examination for Pension to the Blind"; a "Blind Registration Certificate"; periodic case summaries completed under the title "Comprehensive History"; memos - often titled "History" or "History Sheet" -- detailing other information deemed worthy of note (e.g. records of calls and interviews, requests for financial or other aid, client information solicited from third parties, changes of address, changes in financial or marital status, candid opinions rendered by CNIB staff, etc.); and a notification of death. More detailed case files often include other documentation, including applications for Motor Coach and transit passes; applications for Talking Book service; employment records (reports on placement services, site visits and sheltered workshops); requisitions for blindcraft supplies; correspondence with individual clients and client families; newspaper clippings; and correspondence with federal, provincial and private service agencies (e.g. Children's Aid Society, Department of National Health and Welfare, Department of Indian Affairs, Department of Veteran's Affairs, Seeing Eye Inc., Hadley School for the Blind, Canadian Hearing Society, Canada Pension Commission, etc.).
The case files detail the experiences of the blind and visually impaired over time, including their financial and social conditions, health, daily lives and relationships. The CNIB's perception of client attitudes is captured, as are client and public perspectives on how the organization viewed, approached, and assisted its clients through the provision of services and goods. Many case files document not only the client, but also their families. Letters written to the CNIB as well as field notes illustrate the lives of those registered and how they interacted with others. Recurring themes addressed in the files include the development of skills for home and community living, adaptation to change, client accomplishments, suicide, depression, physical and verbal abuse, alcoholism, familial discord, deaths within the immediate family, financial trouble, abandonment or neglect on the part of a parent or spouse, regional economic and service disparities, and nurturing and accommodation of blind children within both home and institutional settings. Also reflected in the files are changes, over time, in the types of services offered (e.g. sheltered vs. competitive work, community-based care and counselling, etc.); available technologies (e.g. talking books, laser eye surgery, corneal transplants, etc.); and society as a whole (e.g. gender roles, the rise of the welfare state, a shift away from institutional care, etc.).
A subset of the case files pertain to veterans blinded in war who were in receipt of enhanced government-sponsored / CNIB-administered services (i.e. War Blinded Aftercare). In addition to the typical records described above, these case files also include a summary of the veteran's service (when and where they enlisted, their units, where they were deployed, description of injury, and in some cases, recovery and medical history) and correspondence documenting the activities of the Sir Arthur Pearson Association of War Blinded - a support and advocacy group closely linked to the CNIB.
The most common causes of blindness reflected in the files are disease (diabetes, syphilis, glaucoma), accidents (cuts, burns, blunt trauma, Halifax explosion, war injury), senile cataracts, and hereditary conditions.