World Sight Day 2024
This World Sight Day, youth forum members Zenny and Rufus came together talk advocacy.
Act now. Donate.What is World Sight Day all about?
World Sight Day is a global initiative orchestrated by the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB). The awareness day shines an important spotlight on the challenges faced by blind and partially sighted people whilst also advocating for enhanced eye health.
To mark the occasion, the Royal Society for Blind Children and our Youth Forum would like to show you ‘Advocate’, a powerful and insightful video interview featuring Youth Forum chair, Zenny, Youth Forum member, Rufus, and RSBC Engagement Officer, Juliette.
The video shares an incredibly raw and honest conversation about a range of important topics from misconceptions about blind and vision impaired people, advocacy and the challenging journey most blind people face getting into employment. They also discuss how outdated attitudes and a lack of accessibility in many workplaces are holding blind people back.
Raising awareness
World Sight Day is reminder that millions of people worldwide confront these challenges daily, and emphasises the need for collective action. With around 37,000 children in England and Wales living with a vision impairment, there are so many who need our support.
Empowering children
Vision impairments often affect a child’s development and education. By supporting RSBC, you’re contributing to programs that empower blind and partially sighted children every day – programs that help them thrive and live their lives without limits.
Promoting inclusivity
World Sight Day highlights the importance of inclusivity and equality, and that’s tragically lacking for the majority of blind people in the workplace. By acknowledging and addressing the challenges faced by vision impaired people, we can work towards creating a more inclusive and diverse society.
The facts.
The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Eye Health and Vision Impairment’s survey of 2,000 businesses shockingly showed that:
- 48% of businesses surveyed didn’t have accessible recruitment processes – despite this being a legal requirement.
- 47% didn’t know where to find funding to help cover the extra costs of practical support for employees who are blind or partially sighted, such as the government’s Access to Work Scheme.
- 25% of respondents said they would not be willing to make workplace adaptations and adjustments in order to employ a blind or partially sighted person.
- 1 in 5 employers believe that making adaptations required by law would be too costly.
Together we can act to change this.
This World Sight Day we’re asking you to act.
Whether that’s watching ‘Advocate’, sharing the importance of inclusivity in your workplace or donating so we can provide blind and partially sighted children with the confidence and life skills needed to give them best possible chance of gaining employment and achieving their dreams.
