Case Study
REHADAT-Knowledge Visual impairment and blindness - Interview "Barrier-free in the head"

The interview with Dr. Bach was conducted by Frank Tomaszewski and Peter van Haasteren for REHADAT Knowledge Edition Visual Impairment and Blindness.

Dr. Bach has been severely visually impaired since birth and worked for many years as a lecturer at the Federal Employment Agency University and briefly at the Institute for Employment Research. He conducts research on work, the labor market, disability and rehabilitation. Dr. Bach is a member of the scientific advisory board at the BMAS for the Federal Government's participation reports and is also on the scientific advisory board for the "Representative survey on the participation of people with disabilities". He is also heavily involved in self-help organizations.

Are there any statistics on the number of blind and visually impaired people?

Federal Minister of Labour Heil provided figures in June 2018. According to these figures, there are more than 145,000 blind people and around 500,000 visually impaired people living in Germany. Furthermore, there are no official surveys that reflect the employment situation of blind and visually impaired people. For this reason, self-help organizations for the blind and visually impaired have been calling for years for differentiated official statistics to form the basis for a rational employment and social policy for people with disabilities, in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Article 31).

How do you see the employment situation of blind people?

In the absence of official figures, I developed three scenarios in 2016/17, one of which coincides with the figures mentioned above. This shows that only one in four of the 145,000 blind people are employed.

What is the employment situation like for visually impaired people?

A distinction must be made between people who are severely visually impaired and those who are less severely visually impaired. For the first group, the employment rate is 26 percent, for the second it is 45 percent. For comparison: in general, more than three out of four people of working age in Germany are in employment, now significantly more than 75 percent. The aim must therefore be to significantly increase participation in work and employment among people with blindness or visual impairment.

Where do you see obstacles?

I would like to highlight one of the possible obstacles: In the case of a visual impairment, the point in time at which it occurred is relevant. People who have been affected since birth or childhood have other prerequisites. For example, they are familiar with assistive products and experience the life situation as a person with an impairment as completely normal from the outset, while people who become disabled at work first have to learn how to use a large screen, voice output or Braille. These are barriers, but not ones that cannot be overcome.

So you think it is feasible to maintain existing workplaces and create new ones despite the onset of a visual impairment?

Absolutely. In general, I am convinced that solutions can be found. Not universal ones, because individual cases are too different. But individual ones certainly can! Motivated jobseekers who are blind or visually impaired and can handle their workplace equipment with confidence often have far more skills than you can imagine. For me, the main barrier is in people's minds. If this is overcome, participation in working life can succeed.

How can this be done in concrete terms?

There seems to be a strong "market resistance" towards blind and visually impaired applicants. This must be taken into account in placement efforts. This is often due to clichés and prejudices - caused by a lack of information and experience with these groups of people. Companies should therefore be approached in a targeted manner with offers of advice. In conjunction with the willingness of all those involved - HR managers, superiors, colleagues and employment agencies - good solutions can be developed. This is always a process. In the search for the (best) suitable employment opportunity, a strategy that first focuses on the applicant's personality traits, talents, skills and previous experience seems promising. This is followed by concrete steps for the design of the workplace, the provision of assistive products and possibly training to learn how to use the assistive products. It is possibly necessary to provide work assistance, the costs of which are borne by the public purse.
The entire process is based on intensive coaching of the applicant so that they are motivated to make the most of their potential. In many cases, it has been shown that the search for a suitable workplace is more promising than applying for vacancies. This requires continuous and intensive efforts by competent and experienced employment agencies and rehabilitation advisors. A very worthwhile effort!