Which factors affect the chances of paid employment for individuals with visual impairment in Britain?

Objectives: To analyze which factors affect the probability of people registered as blind and visually impaired in Britain being in paid employment. Participants: Consist of 559 registered individuals of working age with a visual impairment. This sub-sample is drawn from the first wave of a larger, nationally-representative survey of adults who are blind and visually impaired in Britain. Methods: After examining descriptive statistics for employment status and key analysis variables, a multivariate analysis is undertaken to assess the relative impact of: demographic and household characteristics, socio-economic status, aspects of visual impairment, including severity and age of onset, and presence of additional disabilities. Results: Educational attainment, housing tenure, registration status (as blind or visually impaired) and having additional disabilities have the strongest impact on the likelihood of an individual registered as visually impaired being in work. Conclusions: The findings underline the need to examine the varying labor market experiences of groups with different types of disability and the importance of assessing the individual effects of severity of visual impairment, age of onset, and presence of additional disabilities.