18 Jul Vision Loss Still Significant Barrier To Employment

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Pradeep Ramulu
Wilmer Eye Institute at John Hopkins
Baltimore, MD

MedicalResearch What are the main findings of the study?

Answer: The main finding is that people with vision loss, especially women and people with other diseases such as diabetes, are much less likely to be working.

MedicalResearch Were any of the findings unexpected?

Answer: One might have expected the result, but the magnitude of the result is unexpected, and troubling from a societal perspective. Amongst women, for example, 63% worked if they had normal vision, while only 25% worked if they were visually impaired.

MedicalResearch What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?

Answer: Keeping one’s vision is critical to keeping them working. If you lose your sight, your prospects for employment likely diminish considerably.

MedicalResearch What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?

Answer: At a societal level, we really need to consider how to enable these individuals to join the workforce. While doing so has costs, providing for a non-working adult is probably even more costly. There is a need to understand barriers to employment, and to initiate and spread programs which enable employment amongst this group.

Citation:

Association of Vision Loss and Work Status in the United States
Cheryl Sherrod, Kevin Frick, Pradeep Ramulu, and Clinical/ Epidemiologic Research
Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 54: E-Abstract 4543.

Last Updated on July 18, 2014 by Marie Benz MD FAAD