There’s a statistic in the disability employment space that rarely gets the reaction it deserves: approximately 75% of blind and partially sighted people of working age are not in employment. Not because they lack capability. Not because they lack qualifications. But because the systems, assumptions, and hiring practices of most organisations have been built around a version of “normal” that doesn’t include them.
This summer, as travel planning season kicks in, blind and partially sighted people across the UK are doing something that many employers apparently believe they can’t: navigating airports, booking trains, planning routes through unfamiliar cities, and managing every logistical complexity that comes with it — independently, competently, and without fuss. The question employers should be asking is: if they can do all of that, why aren’t they working for you?
What Solo Travel Reveals About Capability
Think about what successful solo travel actually requires. Route research and contingency planning before departure. Real-time problem-solving when things go wrong. Managing assistive technology across multiple environments. Communicating clearly and precisely with strangers about specific needs. Adapting instantly when a lift is out, a connection is missed, or a member of staff isn’t where they’re supposed to be.
These aren’t niche travel skills. They are core workplace competencies — exactly the ones employers spend significant time and money trying to develop through leadership programmes, resilience training, and coaching. Blind and partially sighted people who travel independently have developed them to a high standard, out of necessity, repeatedly, and without recognition.
The 75% Problem Is a Structural One
The employment gap facing blind and partially sighted people is not a talent shortage. It is a structural failure. Hiring processes that rely on formats inaccessible to screen reader users, workplaces that have never been assessed for accessibility, line managers who have never been trained to support a blind or partially sighted colleague — these are the barriers. They are identifiable. They are fixable.
The blind or partially sighted candidate sitting across from you has, in all likelihood, spent years navigating a world that wasn’t designed with them in mind. That builds something most CVs don’t capture and most competency frameworks don’t measure: a particular kind of tenacity and adaptability that is extremely difficult to teach and genuinely rare to find.
Access to Work: What Most Employers Don’t Know
One of the most commonly cited reasons employers hesitate to hire disabled people is cost — the assumed cost of adjustments, equipment, or ongoing support. For blind and partially sighted employees, the reality is that substantial financial support is available through the government’s Access to Work scheme, and the majority of employers are entirely unaware of it.
Access to Work can fund:
- Specialist software, including screen readers and magnification tools
- Assistive hardware
- A support worker or reader where needed
- Travel to work support where standard public transport isn’t accessible
- Training for the employee and, in some cases, for the wider team
The scheme is administered by the Department for Work and Pensions. Applications are made by the employee, but employers who understand the scheme can actively support the process — and the business case for doing so is straightforward: the cost concern that most often prevents inclusive hiring disappears.
Reasonable Adjustments Are Rarely What Employers Fear
Under the Equality Act 2010, employers are required to make reasonable adjustments for disabled employees. For blind and partially sighted people, these adjustments often cost less — and require less disruption — than employers anticipate. Common adjustments include providing documents in accessible formats, ensuring internal systems are compatible with screen readers, adjusting lighting near a workstation, or applying a clear desk policy in a specific area.
Critically, these adjustments don’t only benefit the blind or partially sighted employee. Accessible documents are better-structured documents. Systems built to work with screen readers are more logically organised for everyone. Clearer processes help the whole team. Inclusive workplaces tend to be better workplaces, full stop.
Employers say they want resilient, adaptable people who can think on their feet. Blind and partially sighted people do exactly that, every single day, in environments that weren’t designed with them in mind. That’s not a limitation. That’s precisely the capability businesses are trying to build.
— Seema Flower, Founder and Managing Director, Blind Ambition
What Genuinely Inclusive Hiring Looks Like
Inclusive recruitment for blind and partially sighted candidates doesn’t require an overhaul of your entire process. It requires a small number of intentional, specific adjustments:
- Ensuring job adverts and application forms are compatible with screen readers — this is a technical check, not a redesign
- Offering interview materials in advance so candidates can prepare in an accessible format
- Asking candidates directly what adjustments would make the interview process work for them — and then making them
- Briefing interviewers on how to conduct accessible interviews (asking a candidate to “look at this chart” or “what do you see here?” are simple examples of things easily avoided with a brief preparation)
None of this is complicated. It is, however, specific — and specificity is precisely where most employers fall short, not through bad intent but through a lack of awareness and practice.
The Tenacity Dividend
There’s a phrase that surfaces regularly in conversations with blind and partially sighted professionals: “I’ve had to work twice as hard to get here.” It isn’t self-pity — it’s a statement of fact. Getting through education, into work, and through a career as a blind or partially sighted person in the UK requires sustained effort against persistent structural obstacles.
The resulting resilience, determination, and problem-solving capability are genuine business assets. The organisations that recognise this — and build their hiring practices around accessing this talent — are not just doing the right thing. They are making a strategically sound decision.
Post Your Vacancy With Blind Ambition Recruitment
Blind Ambition Recruitment exists to close the gap between employers who want to hire inclusively and blind and partially sighted candidates who are ready to contribute. If your organisation is serious about building a workforce that reflects the full range of human capability, this is where you start.
Post your vacancy at recruitment.blindambition.co.uk or contact the team directly at recruitment-ops@blindambition.co.uk. Be part of the solution.
About Blind Ambition Recruitment
Blind Ambition Recruitment connects employers with blind and partially sighted talent. Post your job today at recruitment.blindambition.co.uk or contact recruitment-ops@blindambition.co.uk
