IT has come to our attention that the training opportunities available to adult Tennesseans who are blind has recently experienced a decline due to changes being made by the Department of Rehabilitation Services. The recent elimination of the Vision Impairment Services program at the Tennessee Rehabilitation Center, which was   the only existing residential training program in the state, as well as a lack of sufficient orientation and mobility, technology, and daily living skills training opportunities in the community has created a gap in the services that Tennessee offers for adults who are blind.  This is unacceptable because it limits the potential for adults who are blind to acclimate themselves to their blindness by preventing them from receiving the skills they need to become adjusted and gain the training necessary to be successful in the workplace and in life in general.  Included are a few reasons why we are asking you, blind consumers, family and friends, and educators of the blind in Tennessee, to support the development of a stand-alone, residential training center by signing this petition to help put blind Tennesseans   on an equal playing ground with their sighted peers.

The World Health Organization reports that globally there are over 2.2 billion people who have a near or distance vision impairment.  They state that the majority of people with severe vision loss are over the age of 50, but vision impairment can happen to anyone at any stage of life as the result of cataracts, unaddressed refractive error, disease such as diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma, or trauma.  According to the WHO, approximately half of people who have vision loss have moderate or severe distance vision impairment or blindness, which causes a financial burden due to productivity loss.  This can only be sufficiently addressed by providing adequate training to those who are severely affected by vision loss.      

            According to the Cornell University 2018 Tennessee Disability Status report, there were approximately 201,400 people in Tennessee who were blind or low vision in 2018.  These were people who answered yes to the question, “Is this person blind or does he/she have serious difficulty seeing even when wearing glasses?”  In 2018, there were an estimated 102,500 Tennesseans of working age (21 to 64 years of age).  At that time, Tennessee was on the higher side of the national average for employment for people with vision impairment at a rate of 41.1%.  This left a deficit of 58.9% adult Tennesseans who were blind and of working age who were not employed.  According to the report, only two-thirds of those who were employed were employed full-time, and many of those individuals were under employed. 

As reported in the below linked “Employment Outcomes for Blind and Vision Impaired Adults” article, severity of vision loss is a barrier to employment, so it is safe to assume that many of those in the working age group who are not employed are Tennesseans with total blindness or profound vision loss.  These are the consumers who would need a residential immersive training program in order to reenter competitive employment or inclusive public training programs.  It is also safe to say that many of the people who had blindness or profound vision loss who reported as being employed in 2018 were graduates of the residential program at TRC Smyrna who went on to obtain employment.  It could also be conjectured that the employment rate for blind Tennesseans was on the high side of average in 2018 because there was an existing residential training program for the blind at TRC Smyrna. 

            Low employment rates for the blind (nearly 70%) have been an ongoing problem across the country for decades.  Although Tennessee does not have the lowest rate of unemployment for the blind, there is still a significant gap between the employment rate of the blind and the population at large. Some barriers to employment for the blind are negative attitudes and low expectations about the ability of people who are blind in both the blind population as well as among employers and society in general and lack of immersive blindness skills training for blind adults.  Some predictors of successful employment for adults who are blind are residential immersive blindness skills training and education level.  The Division of Rehabilitation Services is attempting to fill the gap created by the lack of comprehensive residential training for blind adults in Tennessee by outsourcing to training facilities in other states.  This outsourcing is costly for VR Services and the state of Tennessee.  It may be more cost effective for the state if funds were to be appropriated for the development of a local, comprehensive, residential training facility for blind adults in Tennessee.  Given the declining state of specialized services for blind adults, we are asking all of you who are passionate about blind adults in Tennessee receiving adequate training and services to express your support by signing this petition.        

References:

Employment Outcomes for Blind and Visually Impaired Adults

Key Employment Statistics for People Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired

Blindness Statistics (National Federation of the Blind)

TN Disability and Status Report 2018

WHO Blindness and Vision Impairment Fact Sheet