Employment differences among persons with congenital and adventitious vision loss

Abstract

Employment differences among 413 persons who are congenitally or adventitiously blind and employees of National Industries for the Blind (NIB) associated industries were investigated through personal interviews. A one-way multiple analysis of variance (MANOVA) found no significant differences between NIB employees with congenital and adventitious vision loss across four dependent variables; alpha was .05. Persons who were congenitally blind worked a comparable number of hours ( $\bar{x}=37$ ), earned just as much money ( $\bar{x}=5.32$ ), were as satisfied ( $\bar{x}=3.60$ ), and retained their jobs as long ( $\bar{x}=11.44$ ) as persons who were adventitiously blind. Although no significant differences on employment factors were determined, other differences may have been undetected. Additional research regarding how age at time of vision loss affects persons in other work settings, successful adjustment, rehabilitation, employment, and life success is recommended.