The Results of a Study by Dawn B. Golub
The rate of unemployment is unacceptably high among people with visual impairments and those who are blind. Compared to 82% of working-age (21 to 64) individuals employed either by an employer or through their own business, only 31% of blind and 44% of visually impaired individuals in the same age range are employed (Wolffe & Candela, 2002, p. 59). Age, education level, and health status will impact employment status, but corporate culture plays an essential role in successful employment.
In the past, visually impaired individuals were believed to be “unfit” for the corporate structure, as other workers did not know how to relate to workers with a disability, and workers with a disability could not compete successfully with their sighted peers. Some sighted peers have described that physical disabilities such as blindness were stigmatized, and individuals with disabilities made others feel uncomfortable since they did not know how to interact with them socially and at work.
This study recruited participants to answer five research questions:
- What types of corporate culture and organization structure empower people who are visually impaired to succeed?
- What specific social skills are used by people who are visually impaired and successfully employed?
- How do successful workers with visual impairments make others feel comfortable?
- What factors contribute to work success?
- What specific steps do corporations take to enable their employees with visual impairments to succeed?
These questions were developed to review best practices of employers of individuals who were visually impaired, in order to create a toolkit for others to model their success and help employees identify factors that would enable their success in the workplace.
Model for Employers:
- Core Values Flow from the Top Down: Employers need to understand that an organization’s intrinsic values impact their employees’ success. An employer can implement core values that view diversity as a strength, rather than as an accommodation, through its mission statement and personnel policies. They can share these values with new employees, implement a program to increase awareness of diversity, educate employees to dispel myths about people with visual impairments, and encourage an environment that respects each other’s abilities.
- Fill the Toolbox: If employers are going to hold employees accountable for their work, they must provide essential tangible tools employees need to perform their jobs well, such as screen readers, software, and braille printers. Employers can fill their toolbox by asking employees what equipment they need to do their job well, and ensuring new and upgraded equipment is accessible.
- Accessibility and Accommodations: It is important to provide accessibility and accommodations in all aspects of work. All equipment and facilities should be accessible to all employees, and all employees should receive the same information shared with others. This is essential when non-electronic communications may not be accessible to everyone — for example, when outside speakers or events provide materials ahead of time. Successful organizations recognize accommodations as part of what they need to provide.
- Attitude Counts: Employers should strive to make the employee’s disability as “transparent” as possible, encouraging others to focus on the individual employee rather than their disability. Employers need to provide assistance when needed but shouldn’t take the lead when offering help — individuals with disabilities don’t want help with things unless they ask for it, and don’t like being treated as a person with a disability.
- Words Speak as Loudly as Actions: Employers understand their visually impaired employees can benefit greatly when fellow workers provide verbal cues that give enough information about their surroundings without “overdoing it.”
- Expect the Same Performance: Once accessibility accommodations are made, employers should expect the same performance from all employees, since other colleagues will be more willing to accept them. If anything malfunctions, it’s the employer’s job to ensure tools are back in place so the employee can do their job effectively.
- Mutual Accommodations: Employers need to recognize that differences among individuals are substantial and must be accommodated for, regardless of whether they add value. It’s normal for people to have different perspectives. Employers need to make meaningful changes in company policies and institutional practices to implement a mutual accommodation model so every employee feels safe, valued, and respected. The goal is to acknowledge, respect, and value differences.
Model for Employees:
- Your Comfort Is Contagious: Employers have stated that when an individual with a disability is comfortable with their visual impairment and asks for what they need, it helps both the individual and their employer succeed. Workers who are visually impaired help others get past discomfort by demonstrating that disability is not the most important thing about visually impaired people.
- Blindness Competencies: Employers say blindness competencies are key to success. Employees with a visual impairment should stay up to date in orientation and mobility, braille, and assistive technology skills; maintain a variety of strategies to cope in case a system fails; and establish systems by which information can be accessed quickly. During interviews, candidates should demonstrate competence and have specific ideas for managing work and transportation details.
- Be an Ambassador for Blindness: It’s important for employees with a visual impairment to be an ambassador for blindness. Employers felt the awkwardness of a coworker wasn’t a reflection of the individual, but pointed out that the person who is visually impaired had more responsibility than anyone else for ameliorating that awkwardness. Suggestions include: actively putting others at ease by engaging them in conversation; maintaining a broad variety of hobbies and interests to have things to talk about; using humor to diffuse others’ discomfort; making people feel comfortable when they ask questions about blindness, adaptive equipment, or how work is completed; and asking employers and coworkers if they want to learn how to be a sighted guide.
- Positive Attitudes: Employers suggest employees with visual impairments be as positive and competent as possible, work hard, avoid using their blindness as a crutch or excuse, and view challenges as new opportunities. Having an attitude of being there to do the same job as everybody else — without wanting to be treated differently — leads people to interact and integrate well.
- Work Etiquette: Approach fellow workers after confirming they’re not mid-task and it’s a good time to talk; leave a chair free for someone else to sit; and listen for conversational cues when interacting with others at work.
Insist on Being Held to the Same Standard — Once necessary accommodations are in place, employers suggest employees insist on being held to the same expectations as their coworkers in terms of work performance, and take full responsibility for their duties. Not expecting to be treated differently is really what governs how other people treat them — it’s a matter of education, and if you’re not willing to help others understand, they won’t know how to relate to you. - Mutual Accommodations: Finally, people who are visually impaired need to help their employers move toward a model of mutual accommodation — a situation where the employer, employee, and other staff members are comfortable talking about different ways to accomplish tasks and discussing different perspectives — by acknowledging their own differences while respecting and valuing differences in others.
