Blindness was once a marker of an unsuccessful life. A century ago, it was a sentence to life in an asylum or on the streets (Lee, 2021. ). However, with the rise of accessibility and societal shifts towards equity, life as a blind person has improved remarkably. Most of the blind can live relatively normal lives, either with caretakers or medical treatment. As such, to what extent does the problem exist today, and why does it prevail? 

*The following information is based upon the Hong Kong Government's definition of visual impairment, or “seeing difficulty” (HKBU, nd. ). This includes those with long-term difficulty in seeing with one/both eyes with/without aids. The study discluded farsightedness, astigmatism and presbyopia as markers of visual impairment  (HKBU, nd.) .

3.44% of the world's population are visually impaired, of which 14.24% are legally blind (LAD, 2024.). According to the Hong Kong Government, 85.2% of the visually impaired are economically inactive, with the overwhelming majority unemployed (80%). Additionally, less than 60% earn the minimum monthly salary required in Hong Kong for life as a single working professional (HK$ 20,411). This is due to the inability to complete schooling, lack of physical ability to complete necessary tasks and discrimination. More than half who are visually impaired did not complete secondary education, with only 6.6% graduating from university with a degree. In this manner, blindness reduces the efficiency of societal development, and in many cases prevents the blind from living a high-quality life. 

Do the physical barriers themselves prevent the blind from living regularly? Sandy Murillo, who works at an organization serving the visually impaired suggests that they don’t. She asserts that today's technology  allows the blind to “do just about any job.”(Murillo, nd. ). She reinstates the main obstacle to a normal life is inaccessibility and prevalent biases. While this claim may not be completely true due to the biased nature of Murillo serving the disabled and obvious physical barriers, it is certainly the case that increased accessibility will improve the blind’s ability to participate in the workforce.

Currently, accessibility is not sufficient. According to Jensen, a professional in the tech industry, only 3% of the web is considered accessible following the ADA (AudioEye, 2024. ).  Lack of accessibility leaves the blind unable to complete tasks and therefore unable to work.  

Despite this, accessibility seems to be improving. Particularly, the amount of money invested into assistive technology for the visually impaired is projected to increase by 15% from 2023 to 2028, or from 5 to 11 billion (GII, 2024. ). Proof of a positive relationship between an increase in the market for blind accessibility and employment can be seen in previous data. From 2012 to 2020, the market size of blind accessibility increased exponentially while the employment gap between the visually impaired and not visually impaired decreased by more than 10%. In this manner, it is clear that an increase in accessibility is an important factor in improving disability employment rates. 

As such, while visual impairment has delayed societal development, reduced quality of life and is currently not appropriately handled,  projected improvement in accessibility will likely rectify the issue to a good degree, improving the quality of life of the visually impaired. In this manner, the issue is not extremely urgent as of today.

Up Next