Sight loss and employment: Part 1

Part 1: overcoming barriers

Summary:

In the first article of our new series on vision and occupational health, RNIB Scotland employment adviser Heather Barbara looks at the challenges faced by people with sight loss in accessing, retaining and thriving in employment.

People with sight loss tell us that the issues around employment are one of the biggest barriers they face in life. Blind and partially sighted people are much less likely to be in paid employment than the general working-age population or people with other disabilities.

In 2019, the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) carried out research and interviewed over 1,000 people with sight loss to hear their views on their employment situation and experiences. The charity gathered a range of evidence to better understand the problems people faced. It then worked on ways to improve the situation, so that people with sight loss who want to work can find jobs and stay in employment…

Heather Barbara is employment adviser for the RNIB in Scotland.

Author: Barbara H

Tags disability eyesight

Occupational Health at Work June/July 2022 (vol. 19/1) pp15-18

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