Educational Attainment and Employment for Individuals with Visual Impairments

Abstract

Keywords

education level employment blind low vision

Higher educational attainment is known to be associated with lower unemployment rates and higher employment rates and lifetime earnings for the general population (Tamborini et al., 2015; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2019b, 2019a). A substantial amount of research has also supported the importance of higher education for employment outcomes of people with visual impairments (i.e., those who are blind or have low vision; Capella-McDonnall, 2005; Cimarolli & Wang, 2006; Cmar et al., 2018; Giesen & Cavenaugh, 2013; Leonard et al., 1999; McDonnall, 2016; Wolffe et al., 1992). Recent systematic literature reviews have documented the significant association between education and employment for this population (Lund & Cmar, 2019a, 2019b). Education was the variable that was most consistently related to employment in analyses of survey data (Lund & Cmar, 2019a) and analyses of Rehabilitation Services Administration Case Service Report data of vocational rehabilitation consumers (Lund & Cmar, 2019b).

Despite our awareness that education level is associated with employment for people with visual impairments, no one has investigated differences in employment rates by educational attainment for this population. We do not know the relationship between higher levels of education and employment for people with visual impairments or how it compares to the relationship between higher levels of education and employment for the general population. The purpose of this study was to address these unknowns utilizing national labor market data across a 10-year period. The following research questions guided our study:

Research Question 1: What are the employment rates of people with visual impairments based on educational attainment?

Research Question 2: How do the employment rates of people with visual impairments compare to the employment rates of people without disabilities with similar educational attainment?

Research Question 3: What percentage of people with visual impairments obtain a college degree and how does this compare to people without disabilities?

Method

Data come from the American Community Survey (ACS), conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, and were obtained from the Disability Statistics Calculator (Cornell University, 2018). Collected every year, the ACS provides information on a broad range of topics important to policymakers and practitioners, including employment, health insurance coverage, housing status, and demographic information. ACS data are the preferred data source to determine labor market status for small population groups, such as those with specific disabilities (U.S. Census Bureau, 2017a). We evaluated data for each year from 2008 to 2017, comparing employment rates for individuals with a visual impairment and individuals who reported no disabilities at the four levels of educational attainment. Employment rates were calculated by dividing the number of employed individuals with visual impairments to the corresponding total population (including individuals who are employed, unemployed, and not in the labor force) at each education level in accordance with the federal government definition of employment–population ratio. We calculated the difference in employment rates for the two groups at each education level and labeled this difference as the employment gap. Because our focus was on employment, we included respondents between the ages of 21 and 64 years to represent the typical working ages in the United States.

Individuals were considered employed if they worked at all during the previous week as a paid employee, which includes self-employment, or as an unpaid worker in a family business (for 15 hr or more), or had a job, but temporarily did not work at that job during the previous week (U.S. Census Bureau, 2017b). We measured visual impairment by a positive response to the following item: “Is this person blind or does he/she have serious difficulty seeing even when wearing eyeglasses?” Individuals were classified as having no disability if they did not respond positively to any disability question related to vision, hearing, movement, cognitive issues, self-care, or independent living. Educational attainment was measured with an ordinal scale and respondents were classified as having (a) less than a high school education, (b) a high school diploma or equivalent, (c) some college or associate’s degree, or (d) a bachelor’s degree or higher (referred to henceforth as “college degree”).

Results

Employment rates by educational attainment for individuals with visual impairments (see Figure 1) and individuals without any disability (see Figure 2) are presented in Table 1 for years 2008–2017, along with the gap in the employment rate for the two groups based on education level. Employment rates for people with visual impairments vary substantially by education level. On average, across the 10-year period, individuals with a college degree had an employment rate of 62.5% compared to 46.2% for those with some college or an associate’s degree, 37% for individuals with a high school diploma, and 26.2% for those with less than a high school degree.

Figure 1.

Employment rates for individuals with visual disabilities, across educational attainment (American Community Survey, 2008–2017).

Figure 2.

Employment rates for individuals without disabilities, across educational attainment; (American Community Survey, 2008–2017).

Table 1.

Employment rates for individuals with visual impairment versus no disability by educational attainment (2008–2017).

Year	Less than high school			High school diploma			Some college			Four-year degree or higher
Year	VI	ND	Gap	VI	ND	Gap	VI	ND	Gap	VI	ND	Gap
2008	29.3	67.2	37.9	42.3	77.4	35.1	49.9	81.1	31.2	63.7	85.3	21.6
2009	26.6	62.8	36.2	36.7	73.4	36.7	45.2	77.7	32.5	59.7	83.6	23.9
2010	24.9	60.6	35.7	35.2	71.7	36.5	43.0	76.1	33.1	58.5	82.9	24.4
2011	25.2	61.1	35.9	33.2	72.1	38.9	43.0	75.9	32.9	58.1	83.1	25.0
2012	25.4	62.0	36.6	35.0	72.6	37.6	43.1	76.5	33.4	59.8	83.7	23.9
2013	25.8	62.5	36.7	36.2	73.2	37.0	45.4	77.1	31.7	63.1	84.0	20.9
2014	25.7	63.8	38.1	35.8	74.0	38.2	45.4	78.0	32.6	64.2	84.3	20.1
2015	25.4	64.5	39.1	37.8	74.5	36.7	47.8	78.8	31.0	64.7	84.8	20.1
2016	26.4	65.5	39.1	38.6	75.3	36.7	49.4	79.3	29.9	67.1	85.1	18.0
2017	27.3	65.4	38.1	39.1	75.7	36.6	50.2	79.8	29.6	66.0	85.4	19.4

Note. All figures are percentages. Data source is the American Community Survey, sample age is 21–64 years. VI = individuals with a visual impairment; ND = individuals with no disability; Gap = difference in employment rates between ND and VI.

Individuals with visual impairments were much less likely to be employed compared to those without disabilities across all levels of educational attainment throughout the 10-year time period. Individuals with visual impairments who had less than a high school education were the least likely to be employed, with an average employment rate of 26.2% from 2008 to 2017, compared to a 63.5% average for similarly educated individuals without a disability. The disparity in employment rates was similar for individuals with a high school diploma or equivalent, with employment rates averaging 37% for individuals with a visual impairment compared to 74% of individuals without a disability. Individuals with visual impairments who had some college or an associate’s degree had an average employment rate of 46.2%, compared to 78% of similarly educated individuals without a disability. Finally, individuals with visual impairments who had a college degree had a 62.5% average employment rate over the 10-year time period, compared to 84.2% for nondisabled individuals with similar education.

Illustrating the considerable discrepancy in employment rates based on education level for those with visual impairments and those without disabilities, college-educated individuals with visual impairments were employed at lower rates than were nondisabled individuals with less than a high school diploma during a 5-year period (2008–2012). This period corresponds to the “Great Recession” and its aftermath. Furthermore, in the following 5-year period (2013–2017) in which college-educated individuals with visual impairments outperformed nondisabled individuals without a high school diploma, the largest gap in employment rates was less than 2%.

The data illustrate that higher levels of educational attainment are associated with a reduced gap in employment rates between those with visual impairments and those with no disabilities. At the level of less than a high school diploma, the 10-year average gap is 37.3%, while the average gap is 21.7% for those with a college degree. Also relevant is the association between educational attainment and employment rates within these different populations. Educational attainment is associated with an increased likelihood of employment for those with no disabilities, with the difference between employment rate 10-year averages for those with the lowest and highest educational attainment at 20.7%. The association between educational attainment and employment appears even more important for individuals with visual impairments, since the highest educational attainment is linked to average employment rates 36.3% higher than those at the lowest education level over the 10-year period.

An individual with a visual impairment is much less likely to obtain a college degree compared to a person without a disability as illustrated in Table 2. The rate of college degree obtainment has been increasing for the entire 10-year period for people without disabilities, while it has only been increasing for people with visual impairments since 2012. However, the growth in rate of college degree obtainment during the 10-year period of the study has been larger for those with visual impairments than those without a disability (33.6% compared to 12.7%).

Table 2.

Percentage of individuals with 4-year degrees or greater, visual impairment and no disability (2008–2017).

Year	Visual impairment (%)	No disability (%)
2008	11.9	30.6
2009	11.2	30.8
2010	11.4	30.9
2011	11.6	31.2
2012	11.9	31.7
2013	13.7	32.1
2014	14.4	32.5
2015	14.9	33.0
2016	15.7	33.8
2017	15.9	34.5

Note. Data source is the American Community Survey, sample age is 21–64 years.

Discussion

Previous research has documented the importance of education level as a predictor of employment for people with visual impairments (Lund & Cmar, 2019a, 2019b). This variable is the most consistent predictor of employment across recent studies, yet we have not had a sense of the magnitude of the relationship prior to this study. This study documents substantial differences in employment rates, by education level, with differences by education level wider for those with visual impairments than those without disabilities. For individuals without disabilities, the employment gap between people with less than a high school education and those with a college degree was 20% in 2017. This gap was almost double that for individuals with visual impairments at 38.7%. The employment disparity between those without disabilities and those with visual impairments becomes smaller as the education level increases, which indicates a stronger association between higher education and employment for individuals with visual impairments. Education appears to be an important factor that is linked to employment access for those with visual impairments.

Despite the unmistakably positive association between higher education levels and employment, a 19.4% disparity in employment rates currently exists for people with visual impairments who hold college degrees compared to those without disabilities who have college degrees. Although this gap has decreased somewhat over the past decade, it is still an unacceptably large difference. Although education obviously affords a benefit, it is not an equalizer in terms of employment. We need to better understand the reasons for this gap. One contributing factor may be the existing barrier of negative employer attitudes and discrimination (Bendick, 2018; Burke et al., 2013; Kruse et al., 2018; McDonnall & Antonelli, 2018; U.S. Department of Labor, 2014). Research has documented that despite having the same qualifications, persons with disabilities are less likely to be selected for an interview than those without disabilities (Ameri et al., 2018). People with visual impairments may have the desire to work, but they may have removed themselves from the workforce due to challenges in finding employment or experiences with discrimination. Another possibility is that individuals who develop vision loss later in life, after the receipt of a college degree, may not be aware that they could continue to work with appropriate accommodations. In one study of such individuals, more than 60% of those who were not working attributed their lack of employment to their vision loss (Popivker et al., 2010).

Another important factor to consider is that a far smaller percentage of the population with visual impairments compared to the population of individuals without disabilities has a college education: Less than half as many had obtained a degree in 2017. Although higher education is strongly associated with employment, relatively few people with visual impairments have obtained college degrees. A positive finding of this study is that rates of college degree obtainment are increasing for people with visual impairments. It is relevant to note that the employment rate gap between people with visual impairments who have a high school degree or lower levels of education versus those with a college degree has increased over time, providing additional support for the importance of a college degree for those with visual impairments in today’s labor force.

These results underscore the value of obtaining a college degree for individuals with visual impairments in terms of employment. Professionals who work with this population should urge youths with visual impairments to pursue postsecondary education. To achieve success in college, youths must have requisite academic achievement levels as well as assistive technology skills. Teachers of students with visual impairments play a key role in preparing youths with visual impairments for success in college. For adults who lose their vision later in life and do not have a college degree, postsecondary education may be a valuable pursuit that can increase their employment opportunities. Given the strong association between employment and a college degree, vocational rehabilitation agencies should support and encourage postsecondary educational attainment for all consumers with visual impairments.

This study elucidates the strong association between educational attainment and employment rates for people with visual impairments, and it illustrates the differences in the benefits of educational attainment for this population versus those who do not have disabilities. It did not, however, consider the association between educational attainment and other important factors such as earnings, hours worked, or benefits received. Future research should compare the financial benefits of higher education for people with visual impairments and those without disabilities. Future research should also take into consideration the type of college degree obtained by individuals in each group to determine whether differences in this area may explain some of the discrepancies noted in this study, as type of college degree is associated with unemployment rates and earnings (Garcia, 2019; National Center for Education Statistics, 2019). In addition, future research on the association between education level and employment for those with visual impairments should consider the possible impact of other variables, such as additional disabilities and health status, on this relationship.

Footnotes

Authors’ note

The contents of this article were developed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, NIDILRR grant 90RT5040-01-00. However, these contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Health and Human Services and should not indicate endorsement by the Federal Government.

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article: The contents of this article were developed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, NIDILRR grant 90RT5040-01-00.

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