Blindness in the workforce and and its associated challenges Research Paper

Blindness in the workforce and and its associated challenges - Research Paper Example finition for visual impairment was explicitly qualified as â€Å"difficulty or inability to see words and letters in ordinary newspaper print even when wearing glasses or contact lenses† (The Lighthouse International, 201, par. 3). A collection of other statistics on employment of visually imparied persons are summarized below: Likewise, the average annual earnings of visually impaired people were noted to be lower by as much as 33% when compared with those earned by workers without disabilities ($22,106 versus $32,870) (The Lighthouse International, 2012, par. 5). These figures reveals that visually impaired and legally blind people exhibit lower employment rates and average annual incomes despite laws that protect them from being discriminated and prejudiced in the work setting. The study conducted by Malakpa (2007) has noted different impediments to employment and the challenges met by visually impaired and legally blind people are likewise discussed by Stephens (2007), Papakonstantinou and Papadopoulos (2010), and McCarthy (2003) in separate discourses. The impediments that were noted by Malakpa (2007) for blind and visually impaired people include employers’ fears and doubts on hiring them and the lack of understanding for appropriate support to be accorded to them (Papakonstantinou & Papadopoulos, 2010). As emphasized by Stephens (2007), â€Å"the lack of information employers have about adaptive and assistive technologies and techniques†¦(indicated) that employers ‘feared blindness’† (p. 22). On the points of views of the visually impaired, Malakpa (2007) averred that â€Å"job acquisition for the blind and visually impaired is impeded frequently by a lack of knowledge regarding prospects, possibilities, training options, and procedures for search and application† (p. 55). Thus, impediments are eminent from both the perspectives of the blind applicants and those of the potential employers in terms of accuracy and availability of information that would