Careers for Blind and Visually Impaired Individuals

One of the damaging stereotypes about blindness is the belief that the blind are limited to a specific and finite "list" of jobs that "blind people can do." Even when we hear about a blind person who is doing something new  we either discount it (she is the exception) or we just add one more "job that blind people can do" to our list.  Seldom do we rethink our inaccurate assumptions about blindness

KMC (Karachi Metropolitan Corporation) Administrator Muhammad Hussain Syed said the number of sightless people in Pakistan had crossed the 16 Lac mark. 

The administrator on this occasion expressed concern over the regular increase in the number of people with visual impairment. He said it sounds good that the blind people too want to earn their livelihood respectfully by not putting any burden on the society. He also asked the private institutions and multinational companies to provide jobs to blind people in their offices and factories so that they could earn livelihood for their family. He said that these people were gifted with extra capabilities by Almighty Allah.

People who are blind or visually impaired can perform almost any job you can imagine: lawyer, artist, accountant, secretary, customer service representative, food service worker, factory worker, financial analyst, teacher, medical transcriptionist, day care worker, counselor, computer programmer, cook, salesperson, clerk, and more. We cannot count the number of different jobs people who are blind or visually impaired are engaged in today or will be in the future. The possibilities are tremendous.

Legislative and societal changes have reduced discrimination toward visually impaired workers as attitudes toward people with disabilities generally have improved. Employers, especially in midsized and large businesses, routinely follow equal employment opportunity practices and have diversity and disability-accommodation processes in place. Available assistive technology makes it easier for people who are visually impaired to perform many jobs that they never could have before. Proper training, appropriate tools, the ability to sell oneself, and a willing attitude on the part of employers constitute a winning formula.

Yet in Pakistan, even with all the technology and legislative changes only a handful of the visually impaired are being employed.  The government’s quota of hiring 2 percent of the visually impaired is not enough.  The government also needs to enforce some laws for the multinationals to hire the visually impaired individuals to support the cause and make the organizations give the proper accommodations the visually impaired individuals require.

Accommodations to the work environment or an individual's work situation can be made that enables a person with disabilities to perform work duties as well as (but not always in the same way) as his or her co-workers without disabilities. Accommodations that have proven effective and affordable for workers with visual impairments include Glare reduction and adjusted lighting. Voice or e-mail messages instead of handwritten notes. Desk or laptop computers adapted with screen-reading (synthesized speech), screen magnification, and/or optical character recognition (OCR) software. Scanners, larger-than-average monitors, and/or braille display devices can be added as peripherals. Large print, tactile, or talking calipers, scales, tape measures, thermometers, blood pressure cuffs, calculators, money identifiers, and cash registers. Aids to mobility for people who are blind or visually impaired include long canes, dog guides, electronic travel aids, special telescopes to read signs, use of public transit, and carpooling.

Islamabad learning center broadens horizons for blind people - Video Dailymotion

Written by Daniyal Nadeem