What kind of jobs blind people can do to earn a good income? It is a question many curious individuals and visually impaired ask career counselors, like us. We do have a good answer and through this blog will tell you about the best career options and jobs blind people can consider. And interestingly, there are more numbers of jobs for blind people now than there was a year before.
Just like people with normal sight, visually impaired individuals have different skills and special abilities. For a long time, the rate of unemployment among the blind had been staggeringly high. But with different technology coming up, along with different adaptations, people with vision loss can find just about any job they wish to take up.
Living Blind: Find Your Light in the Darkness
Blindness could be caused due to accidents, infections or could be caused at birth. Those who are born blind, easily adapt than the other most blind people usually learn non-visual techniques to communicate and perform day-to-day activities in the early years itself. For those who have lost sight recently, need the time and effort to learn the non-visual skills.
Did you know some of the most talented people around the world are blind? So, it is all about acceptance on the employer’s part and finding the right job. If you know a close associate who is visually impaired, tell him or her not to make blindness a defining factor in preventing him from pursuing a career. Blind people have talents that normal people with sight do not. For instance, a sharp affinity towards sound and music- an added advantage!
How to Begin?
Today, there are more options with jobs for blind people than ever before. Although visually intense jobs may not suit the blind, there is a vast majority of work today that can be customized to suit someone with vision loss. Vision is one of the five senses. A blind person must consider a profession that values, uses and enhances the other four senses.
Your best bet would be enlisting in a disability organization. There are organizations that are formed with the intention to help differently-abled people, such as blinds or visually impaired. The organizations conduct job-oriented workshops to enhance skills and help people succeed in their careers.
Apart from it, one can also try regular employment agencies and explore other self-employment opportunities.
If you are a student, you will be delighted to know that visually impaired students surveyed that colleges provide many tools for people like you to succeed. Before moving forward, you must ensure proper transportation in jobs or if the job area is safe for walking and using a cane.
Best Careers for the Blind and Visually Impaired
Teacher and Professor
Blind people can be very patient when it comes to training and teaching others. One of the areas in which people without sight excel is Communication. Since they have a strong in four senses, teaching is an apt choice.. teaching requires strong communication, which is second-nature to the blind People with blindness can teach music or musical instruments too. Their affinity towards sound and music naturally makes them a good musician or singer.
Customer Service Executive
Customer service can be online (work from home) or brick and mortar in nature. That is the beauty of this profession. People with blindness can easily take up an online customer service job, where they will assist customers in person or over the phone. You just need to have a calm and pleasant disposition. Thanks to the advancement of technology, there are hundreds of online customer service jobs available for the disabled with free coaching and training programs. In fact, the pay scale is also quite good with an average salary being approximately $22,000 per year.
Freelance Writing
Yes! You may probably wonder how a visually impaired person can write. There are technology tools like screen readers and Braille Stylus that help blind people write text on computers. There are other audio enabled tools, such as speech recognition software and magnification programs, which can make writing considerably easy.
Nowadays, we also have talking dictionaries, memo recorders, iPhone and Android devices, and Braille readers and writers, which can perform several tasks involved in content writing for a blind person.
Telemarketer
Telemarketing can be done right from where a person is located. All he needs is a phone and perseverance. This profession is one of the great choices for blind people. Just like any normal marketing executive, you have to follow a script to sell a company’s product and services. The visually impaired can use a large text program if they can partially see, or memorize the script. The rest will fall easily, as there are technologies that support people in reading, dialing, and recording. The person must also be familiar with the company’s products and services to come up with witty and ready-made answers that are beyond the scripts.
Ad Copywriter
Advertising and copywriting is another avenue that blind people are making their way in. People with complete and partial blindness can work for advertising companies, digital marketing companies, commercial advertising companies, or any other media firm that require catchy slogans, fabulous scripts, and exceptional advertising campaigns. The scope is huge and vast The pay scale is also much higher, which can let a professional earn as much as $50,000 per annum.
Computer Programmer
There are many computer savvy who are blind yet have found huge success in this field. The blind software engineer, Ashley Cox, set up his own business when he was just 15 years old. So, if he can, anyone else can. A blind person can be a successful computer programmer, where the primary work would be designing, writing, testing, troubleshooting, and maintaining computer programs. Blind programs can use text editors and work with screen readers and Braille displays to read and write codes.
The average salary a blind computer engineer can earn is $75,000 to $80,000 per annum. Amazing!
Radio Jockey
Radio is all about what you speak and hear, with little work for the eyes to do. You just need to be smart, witty, quick and have complete knowledge about the topic, and you could be a successful radio jockey in no time. People with blindness can also think of starting their own podcast and earn a good fortune. Podcasts are nothing but 20 – 30-minute audio conversations streamed on live channels. They are like audio blogs or a personalized radio station.
Singer
It is quite evident that people who are blind or visually impaired know music the best. Since their sense of sight is inactive, their sense of hearing becomes more prolific and stronger. Therefore, they can pick up music, tune, rhythm, and vocals faster than normally sighted people. So, if you know a blind person who can sing well, ask them to train their voice and commit to music. They can start their own home-based music school or become a performer. Singing is a full-time career and the opportunity is vast. Blind singers can also perform on radio, clubs, or even in music bands.
Musician
As long as the sense of hearing and touch is active, a musician may not require sight at all Blind musicians can specialize in a particular type of instruments, such as guitar, piano, drums, flute, violin, and many others. To become famous and earn a living, practice the instrument and create music. hare it on social media. Although you don’t need a formal education to create music, blind musicians may need a bachelor’s degree in a certain field of music or instruments.
Chef
The sense of taste and smell is often heightened in blind people. This can make them an excellent chef or a food critic. Although it may be difficult for them to cook alone since cooking requires a lot of hand movements visually impaired or blind people can advise best meal course or ingredients to make a dish perfect. They can, however, appoint an assistant s chef to do the cooking while they can plan meals and invent new dishes and recipes.
Mental Health Counsellor
Blind people can have calming effects on people suffering from mental health issues. It is a position that relies heavily on listening and speaking, and hardly on seeing. Blind mental health counselors can lead sessions with individuals and groups and guide them in processing hard life circumstances, past events, and undesirable behaviors. Being blind in this career can be advantageous because the person will already be deemed as a successful motivator. Also, it gives rise to increased levels of empathy and trust.
Don’t forget to read out this blog to someone who needs a boost in making career choices. Help your near and dear ones in spreading career awareness for blinds.
