With startling statistics such as: 66% of blind and partially sighted people of working age are unemployed, Those blind or partially sighted people who are working are concentrated in unskilled and lower paid jobs, Nine out of ten employers rank blind and partially sighted people as either ‘difficult’ or ‘impossible’ to employ.

Education for the blind is essential. After being made redundant and returning from my USA tour last year I began to apply for jobs. During an economic downturn trying to gain employment is always difficult, add to that a disability and my job prospects were low. The majority of roles I had the skills for required a driving license. During this period I began to asses whether my future was still in the field of IT.

The parts of my previous job I enjoyed were no longer solely IT focused. Process and project management were the two aspects of my job I enoyed the most, but at the core was simply helping people. I enjoyed working on projects that had a direct improvement to children’s education. So after a month of deliberating where my future may lie I realised returning to higher education was the solution.

Thankfully the UK has a wonderful structure for the blind to return to education. There is a solid financial and support structure. With a higher level of education and a more focused degree I hope this will improve my job prospects. I would advise anyone who is partially sighted or blind living in the UK to consider higher education.

If you would like to have a chat about the financial aspects of returning to education feel free to email me.