Employer Awareness Sessions from RNIB NI
On 25 October 2012, RNIB Northern Ireland hosted an Employer Awareness event at our premises on Linenhall Street Belfast. This two hour session was organised by Employment Officer, Clare Dixon and the aim of the session was to actively raise awareness amongst NI employers as to what people who are blind or partially sighted can do in the work place.
The event was an opportunity to dispel any misconceptions about blind or partially sighted people, as well as offering employers a chance to be open about what their real concerns are in relation to employing people with sight loss.
Who attended
20 employers attended the event, they included:
-
Belfast City Council
-
Belfast Health and Social Care trust
-
the Council of the Curriculum, Examination and Assessment
-
Department of Agriculture and rural development
-
Fire and rescue service NI
-
Barnardo's
-
Northern Ireland Water
-
the Equality Commission.
Session highlights
Invited to speak at the session, were three people with sight loss who are in employment. Each person gave an overview of the jobs they do, discussed when they disclosed their sight loss to their employer, how they do their jobs with adjustments and/or assistive technology and also gave advice for potential employers.
One of the key messages in this part of the session was that, a person with sight loss may require some sort of adjustment to be put in place at their place of work, but these don't have to be complex adaptations. It is usually an item of equipment or, possibly a practical adjustment for example, changing the location of a person's desk so to improve lighting.
It was emphasised also to the group that there is possible financial support for employers through government schemes like Access to Work, which a lot of employers were not aware of.
Having key speakers also gave employers an opportunity to see that people with sight loss should not be pigeon holed into jobs. Just as the jobs people with sight do vary from person to person, so it is the same for people with sight loss.
Assistive Technology
A second key part of the session was an overview of assistive technology, demonstrated by RNIB NI Technology officer, Pat Kerr. Pat gave short demonstrations of software like Zoomtext, JAWS for Windows and various other magnification equipment.
Feedback from the session was extremely positive, with many invitees stating that they now have an increased awareness of what people with sight loss can do in the work place and what support is available to employers.
Contact us
If you are an employer wishing to know more about these sessions, just contact RNIB NI.
Tel: 028 9032 9373
Email: employmentni@rnib.org.uk
Find us on Facebook