By Tracey Ward, Head of Business Development and Marketing at Generali UK Employee Benefits
Two million people in the UK are living with sight loss that’s severe enough to have a significant impact on their lives. And half of this sight loss is avoidable. A sight test can detect early signs of conditions like glaucoma, which can be treated if found soon enough, according to the organisers of National Eye Health Week. “A lot of organisations will have an eye care policy. But my question to employers is, how well do you promote that?” asks Dan Williams, Founding Director of Visualise Training & Consultancy; a company that specialises in ensuring accessibility, inclusion and equality for employees who live with visual impairment.
“Prevention is better than cure,” he adds. “And eye tests can also pull up things such as high blood pressure, even brain tumours, as well as identifying potential eye problems, so they’re extremely important.”
Considering one of the goals of group income protection insurance is prevention of long-term conditions – as well as early intervention, rehabilitation and/or ongoing management – that makes this topic very relevant to insurers, like Generali UK.
Causes of sight loss
Dan, who has lived experience of a visual impairment, joined us recently as a guest speaker as part of a Generali UK webinar. Dan works regularly with our early intervention partner Form Health.
He explained that there are four main causes of sight loss: injury; disease; congenital; and old age.
Common injuries include abrasions from contact with an external object; burns from chemical, thermal or radiation sources; blunt trauma from a non-sharp object; or laceration from a sharp object.
Common diseases include glaucoma; the name for a group of eye diseases that can cause vision loss and blindness by damaging the optic nerve in the back of the eye. Other diseases that might impact the eyes include multiple sclerosis, stroke, cancer, and diabetes.
Congenital blindness (visual impairment at birth) can be caused by several things – it can be inherited or caused by an infection (like rubella) that’s transmitted from the mother to the developing foetus during pregnancy.
Meanwhile, problems in later life that can lead to vision loss include age-related macular degeneration which can harm the sharp, central vision needed to see objects clearly (impacting the ability to drive and read) and cataracts (cloudy areas in the eye’s lens causing blurred or hazy vision).
Impact on employment
Dan says that even where sight loss is a factor, people can still enjoy productive and rewarding careers. That is, so long as the right support, workplace adjustments and assistive technology are in place.
Dan says this is often down to preconceived ideas on the part of both the employer and the employee. “Maybe the individual has applied for jobs, but they haven’t got anywhere and they put this down to their disability. Or the potential employer simply doesn’t know how they’d make adjustments for an individual with sight loss. But the fact is that people with sight loss can do most jobs, as long as they have the correct reasonable adjustments in place.
“Just think of singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder and member of the House of Lords David Blunkett. Obviously where sight is a safety critical aspect of a job – like a pilot or a police officer – then someone with sight loss can’t do that role. But in many cases, they can. They just need the right support.”
Typical reasonable adjustments
Dan explains that reasonable adjustments can include things like magnification software to help make the text bigger on computers, iPads and tablets. Also, technology that can speak back all the text on a screen.
“Not everything has to cost a huge amount of money in terms of technology though,” he says. “Sometimes, it’s just about the employer having some understanding. The main thing is not being afraid to ask questions about what the individual might need. And remember that not everybody knows what they might need, especially if they’re new to sight loss. They may not know how to engage with specialists that understand what support is available and how to get the right outcome for an individual.”
Visualise Training & Consultancy carries out lots of workplace assessments to look at what barriers somebody is facing. Then they recommend bespoke adjustments for that person to ensure they can continue working.
Dan explains: “It’s really important that an individual has a workplace assessment to make sure they can get the right adjustments to help them, not only in their work life but also in their home life. We look at the person holistically. If they’re not happy at home – and don’t have the right adjustments in place there – they’re not going to be happy at work either. This whole-person view is vitally important.”
*To access a free recording of the full 30-min webinar, which includes case studies, please email [email protected]
Disclaimer:
All information contained herein represents the views and opinions of the author as of the date of writing and is provided for general information only. Nothing herein constitutes or is intended to constitute financial or other form of advice and no individual should rely upon the information provided in making a specific investment decision without first seeking independent professional advice.