Hi Everyone,
I apologise in advance for the length of this posting.
I feel that I owe it to list members to say something about my own
work in the field of employment of people who are visually impaired. I
would, too, welcome any ideas and suggestions that anyone might have
regarding this work.
By "people who are visually impaired" I mean those who are blind or
partially sighted or have a level of vision that makes it less easy for
them to undertake common tasks and may exclude them from certain tasks -
such as driving.
In the UK we have something like 75-80% unemployment amongst these
people. Despite a variety of schemes and initiatives over the past
twenty or so years, this figure has not changed significantly. A great
deal of money, time and effort is put into training and employment
support, but with seemingly little gain. Of course, the gain may be
that the unemployment rate is not increasing.
As a legally blind person, I am fortunate in that I have always been
in employment or self-employment since leaving school in 1965. Much of
my work is now with others who are visually impaired and who are seeking
employment or self-employment or are having difficulties in coping with
some aspect of their employment. I work with clients and we have our
successes and our failures, just like anything else.
I have now reached a position from which I feel I wish to become
proactive in attacking this high rate of unemployment. The question
then is how to do that? The answer is to research what works, what does
not work and why; then to suggest new or alternative ways of doing
things.
My original idea was for a research study entitled something like
"New and alternative employment opportunities for people who are
visually impaired". This may have been too broad, so I have since
considered looking in detail at other aspects, such as supported
employment, self-employment, barriers to employment and so on. I keep
coming back to the fundamental question "doing what?" - just what can
people who are VI do in the workplace.
Self-employment seems an attractive topic for several reasons:
there would appear to be an increase in self-employment amongst people
who are VI; there are more and more schemes aimed at supporting these
people into self-employment; Not least of all, I have been
self-employed myself for over fifteen years. But I still keep asking
"doing what?" - don't worry, I know what I do!<smile>
I'm now at the stage where I need two things: firstly academic
guidance as to how to decide on a precise research question and secondly
how to get funding to do the job. I am advised that I should probably
be seeking to do a part-time MPhil, with an option of this leading to a
PhD. But I have to earn a living and I do this from my business. In
fact, much of my business activity will overlap with my research, so the
financial strain may not be so terrible. But time is a constraint too,
in that everything that is done by a person with a visual impairment
takes longer and one has to work harder than one's fully sighted
counterparts.
So there it is. I'm not frustrated or bored; I have a successful
business but I can see the opportunity to do something that will make a
real difference for many people. The original "New and alternative..."
idea was from the heart and may have been somewhat naive.
Self-employment for people who are VI might be more doable, though it
might be too close to home for me. I have no shortage of client,
practitioner, employer and institutional contacts, so case studies and
surveys would be no problem in either case. I would welcome any
suggestions, ideas, comments or whatever.
Many thanks for reading this far.
Cheers,
Brendan.
--
BRENDAN MAGILL
Business and Information Technology
Consultancy, Training and Research
Yew Tree Cottage
Winnall Common
Allensmore
Herefordshire
HR2 9BS
England
Phone: +44 (0)1981 570660
Fax: +44 (0)870 127 7856
Web: www.magill.co.uk
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