Blindness and Employment

It is said by the National Federation of The Blind that nearly 80% of working age people who are legally blind are living on SSI or SSDI.

SSDI or Social Security Disability Insurance pays benefits to a person and certain members of a person's family if they are or become disabled and are "insured" meaning that they worked long enough and paid Social Security taxes.

SSI or Supplemental Security Income pays benefits based on financial need.  This program is for a person who is disabled and who has not worked at all, has not worked enough to qualify them for SSDI, or SSI pays more than SSDI.

Between half and two thirds of blind people on Social Security are on SSI because they have not worked long enough to earn SSDI benefits, or more likely, did not work at all.

The SSA does recognize blindness as a disability.  See Disability Evaluation Under Social Security (Also known as the "Blue Book") Part III - Listing of Impairments, Social Security Administration SSA Pub. No. 64- 039. 

So, what is the problem? 

650,000 or 17% of those who have vision loss who are legally blind ages 21 to 64 live on SSI.  A considerably higher number who are lagally blind live on SSDI when they are not employed. Over 1,000,000 or 27% with vision loss live below the poverty line. Only 1,120,000 or 30% were employed full-time/full-year in 2016.

Prevalence of Visual Disability (2016) - National Federation of the Blind

  • Total (all ages): 7,675,600
    • Total (16 to 75+): 7,208,700
      • Women: 3,946,300
      • Men: 3,262,300
    • Age 16 to 64: 4,037,600
    • Age 65 and older: 3,171,100
Note.  Visual Disability does not necessarly qualify as being legally blind.

There are several ways to define blindness. Many people regard blindness as the inability to see at all or, at best, to discern light from darkness. The National Federation of the Blind takes a much broader view. They encourage people to consider themselves as blind if their sight is bad enough - even with corrective lenses - that they must use alternative methods to engage in any activity a person with normal vision would do using their eyes.

The United States Bureau of the Census question about “significant vision loss” encompasses both total or near-total blindness and “trouble seeing, even when wearing glasses or contact lenses.”

The statutory definition of “legally blind” is that central visual acuity must be 20/200 or less in the better eye with the best possible correction or that the visual field must be twenty degrees or less.

There are no generally accepted definitions for “visually impaired,” “low vision,” or “vision loss.”


So, why the high unemployment or under employment?   

The issues basically boils down to three fundamental causes.

  • The first issue is the cause it self...Blindness.  Our world is a sighted one where it requires functioning eyes to live normally.  Most people are visually oriented and rely on their vision to do things.  Everything around us suggests that the eyes are what we depend upon to live.  Be it driving, computers, TV, site seeing, shopping, or reading, the eyes are what allow for a seamless existence.  But, if a person cannot see, they cannot drive a car, see a movie, read a book, see people, and many other things the normal person does.

  • The second issue is mobility.  Americans rely heavenly on their cars to get around.  Judges who suspend driver's license will still allow someone to drive to and from their job.  For most 16 to 18-year-olds, it is a right of passage into adulthood to obtain a driver's license.  Everyone, it seems, needs to drive a car.  But, a person with a visual impairment cannot see well enough to pass the necessary visual acuity standards to get a deriver's license.   For those who cannot drive, it is said, "There is always the bus." 

    There has been much talk about public transportation in this country.  The problem is, this present day system barely covers 15% of a major inner city’s needs much less the rest of the country.  Mass transit is still centered around downtown areas and as one moves away from the deteriorating inner city's core, the bus routs fan outward becoming harder to get to and use.  Then it is up to the person to walk a significant distance in all weather conditions and even then they have to transfer to several routs spending hours getting to their destination.   There are only about 40 metropolitan areas in the US that have what is considered to be barely adequate public transit.  The rest have little or none.

    This country has less than one percent of its roads serviced by ground forms of public transportation.  The rest of the public thoroughfares or right-of-ways are only accessed by privately owned cars and trucks.  The United States is a really big place and though most of the people live in and around metropolitan areas, most Americans drive an average of 40 minutes one way to and from their work.  The percentage of people who rely on public transit is so small, that it does not even equal 1/1000 percent of the population.

    It is a well known fact that if a person cannot drive a car, they will find themselves existing in the bottom five to ten percent income bracket.  There are two exceptions to this.  People who live in New York City and San Francisco City can successfully live in these two cities without a car.  The problem with these places is they are the most expensive places to live in the US and possibly the planet.

    Most people who cannot drive spend hours waiting for buses when they could have spent this time doing something more productive.  The buses are often empty, dirty, and go through bad sections of town. 

    Even though taxicabs are another available form of transportation, they are often too expensive for regular daily use, especially someone on a limited or fixed income.  These cars usually cost anywhere from 5 to $8.00 a mile with a minimum charge of 6 to $10.00 for showing up to pick someone up; that is if they even show up.

  • The third issue is prejudice, discrimination, or bias.  People who cannot see are...conspicuously different.  People who are blind have a completely different body language that they are unaware of simply because they cannot see.  Those who can see a little, have to hold things noticeably closer.

    The visual aspects of being blind are different and are a turn-off to sighted people... hence employers 

    The Americans with Disabilities Act, Title 1: deals with employment. This part of the ADA makes it illegal to discriminate against any “qualified individual with a disability” in decisions about hiring, firing, promotion or retention. (Note: Only companies with 25 or more employees have to follow the employment requirements of the ADA.) Under the ADA, employers are not allowed to fire someone, or refuse to hire someone, simply because of a disability, if the worker can perform the job with or without accommodations.

    The problem is, companies have been known to magnify or fabricate various accusations or charges to get rid of undesirable people..

    How true is this?  Even though this fellow Mike's vision is 20/70, he is still faced with this prejudice.  He talks about this in a paper he wrote called How Close is Too Close.

It is difficult to be blind in America.  This country is called the land of opportunity.  But the unemployment statistics for the blind suggest that this is not true for everyone.  Almost 80% of the working age blind are living off of the government.

As for the other 20%+; it is estimated that about 10 to 12% of blind people are married to sighted counter parts and do not work.  The other 10 to 12% work in "protected" jobs such as government or public sector positions, or are working for sheltered work programs such as recorded or Braille publication charities, token workshops and state agency provided vending stands.  There are a number of blind people who do work in the private sector for what are called affirmative action positions or where a company produces a product that has an accessibility option and needs someone who is blind to determine its usability.  Example of these companies are Microsoft and Westlaw.  Only a tiny number of people legitimately work for private industry.  This number is so staggeringly small that one can count them with one or both hands.

The conclusion to be drawn from all of this is a person who is born blind in the United States, will only have a 10 to 12% chance of working or being gainfully employed and that will be in the public sector or sheltered environment.

M 2002