Employer Attitudes towards Persons who are Blind or Visually Impaired: Perspectives and Recommendations from Vocational Rehabilitation Personnel.

BLINDNESS; REHABILITATION of blind people; WORK experience (Employment); WORK environment; ANALYSIS of variance; EMPLOYMENT of people with disabilities; MOTIVATION (Psychology); QUANTITATIVE research; SURVEYS; QUALITATIVE research; RESEARCH funding; QUESTIONNAIRES; DESCRIPTIVE statistics; CHI-squared test; VISION disorders; VOCATIONAL rehabilitation; REHABILITATION; CONTENT analysis; THEMATIC analysis; ATTITUDES toward disabilities; ALLIED health personnel; MEDICAL coding

UNITED States; MISSISSIPPI

This study investigated vocational rehabilitation service providers' opinions about employer attitudes towards people who are visually impaired and what they had found to be the best techniques to encourage an employer to consider these people for employment. We found that rehabilitation counselors tended to have more negative perceptions of employers' attitudes toward hiring persons who are visually impaired than providers who identified themselves as business relations staff. Business relations staff were more likely to approach potential employers from a perspective that focused on employer needs and consumer abilities. Twelve themes of techniques to work with employers were identified and then further grouped into two broader categories: providing information and service delivery strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]