Barriers to employment for visually impaired women

• Published in: International journal of workplace health management Vol. 7; no. 3; pp. 171 - 185
• Main Authors: Coffey, Margaret, Coufopoulos, Anne, Kinghorn, Karen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bingley International Journal of Workplace Health Management 02.09.2014; Emerald Group Publishing Limited
• Subjects: Age; Barriers; Blindness; Dependents; Disability; Employee attitude; Employers; Employment; Employment interviews; Flexibility; Gender; Job opportunities; Labor market; Literature reviews; Mobility; Part time employment; People with disabilities; Poverty; Questionnaires; Social exclusion; Studies; Training; Unemployment; Visual impairment; Women; Work experience; Workers; Workers with disabilities; Workplaces; United Kingdom > UK; England
• ISSN: 1753-8351; 1753-8351; 1753-836X
• DOI: 10.1108/IJWHM-06-2013-0022

Purpose To explore barriers to employment for visually impaired (VI) women and potential solutions to those barriers Design/methodology/approach Mixed methods, comprising three phases; 1) exploratory interviews with VI women (n=6) and employers (n=3); 2) a survey to assess the barriers to employment experienced by this group (n=96); and 3) in-depth interviews with VI women (n=15). This paper reports phases 2 and 3 Findings The most commonly reported barriers to work were: negative employer attitudes; the provision of adjustments in the workplace; restricted mobility; and having an additional disability/health condition. Significantly more barriers were reported by women: who reported that their confidence had been affected by the barriers they had experienced; with dependents under 16; and women who wanted to work Research limitations/implications Key solutions to these barriers included: training for employers; adaptive equipment; flexibility; better support; training and work experience opportunities; and more widely available part-time employment opportunities Originality/value This paper adds to the literature in respect of the key barriers to employment for visually impaired women, together with providing key solutions to these barriers.