Defining Blind Discrimination

Discrimination Against the Visually Impaired

Defining Blind Discrimination Discrimination, a word that is ever-present in our society and will remain ever-present until action is taken. Merrian Webster Dictionary defines the term discrimination as “the practice of unfairly treating a person or group of people differently from other people or groups of people (Webster). Discrimination has been a principal characteristic in our nation since its creation, it has a direct correlation to human rights and the repression of minority groups. According to an article titled Blindness-Discrimination, Hostility, and Progress written by Kenneth Jernigan, this ranges anywhere from “Prejudice, denial of opportunity, unequal treatment, and exclusion

Every aspect of the employment process has discriminated against them from advertising vacancy in positions, appointment processes, wages, dismissal and post-employment actions according to the article Disability, Sight Impairment and the Law (C Casserley). When it comes to employment, the visually impaired are placed under the category of being handicapped, which makes them subject to prejudice. Employers are quick to make the assumption that handicapped workers are less productive and more costly to train to those who are not handicapped. Employers are also likely to reduce the wages of their visually impaired employees to compensate for any uncertainty about their productivity and to also compensate for the costs of hiring and training these individuals. “Civil rights advocates allege that because discrimination limits job opportunities, firms that hire handicapped workers can exploit them through slower promotions and lower pay increases than those of non-handicapped workers” (William G Johnson). No matter what, the handicapped or visually impaired individual gets the short end of the stick. They are not treated as competent employees, instead they are regarded as dispensable tools that employers can utilize when they please. In 2011 in The Bureau of Labor statistics, they reported that about 2 million individuals from the ages of 16 to 64 (working age adults) self-identified as visually impaired. Of these 2 million people, 63.3% reported to not be a part of the civilian labor force. That means that only 36.7% of the visually impaired were a part of the labor force and at that time 13.8% of the 36.4% were unemployed. These statistics are in no doubt due to the job availability and discrimination of the visually impaired. “The rate of employment is inversely related to the degree of the disability” (Edward C. Bell). It is clearly fact that the disabled are not