Identifying the needs of people in Canada who are blind or visually impaired: Preliminary results of a nation-wide study

This national study of the needs of Canadians with significant vision impairments surveyed consumers and providers of medical, rehabilitation and education services about needs associated with vision loss and experiences with vision rehabilitation. Key findings include participants' incomes primarily fall at the low end of the income scale, employment of working age participants falls at around 19%, the most significant need areas are transportation and access to information, consumer needs are under-serviced, barriers to services primarily relate to lack of information about and referral to them, and lack of services is associated with unemployment, dependency, isolation and limits on opportunities.