Questions and Answers About Blindness and Vision Impairments in the Workplace The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability. Title I of the ADA makes it unlawful for any employer to discriminate against a qualified applicant or employee because of a disability in any aspect of employment. The ADA covers employers with 15 or more employees, including state and local governments. Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act provides the same protections for federal government employees and applicants. In addition, most states have their own laws prohibiting employment discrimination on the basis of disability. Some of these state laws may apply to smaller employers and provide protections in addition to those available under the ADA. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces the employment provisions of the ADA. This is part of a series of question-and-answer documents addressing particular disabilities in the workplace. It explains how the ADA might apply to job applicants and employees with vision impairments. In particular, this document discusses: • when a vision impairment is a disability under the ADA; • under what circumstances an employer may ask an applicant or employee questions about a vision impairment; • what types of reasonable accommodations employees with visual disabilities may need; and, • how an employer can prevent harassment of employees with visual disabilities or any other disability. GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT VISION IMPAIRMENTS Estimates vary as to the number of Americans who are blind and visually impaired. According to one estimate, approximately 10 million people in the United States are blind or visually impaired. Other estimates indicate that one million adults older than the age of 40 are blind, and 2.4 million are visually impaired. Over the next 30 years, as the baby-boomer generation ages, the number of adults with vision impairments is expected to double. Recent figures also indicate that only 46% of working-age adults with vision impairments and 32% of legally blind working-age adults are employed. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) define "vision impairment" to mean that a person's eyesight cannot be corrected to a "normal level." Vision impairment may result in a loss of visual acuity, where an individual does not see objects as clearly as the average person, and/or in a loss of visual field, meaning that an individual cannot see as wide an area as the average person without moving the eyes or turning the head. There are varying degrees of vision impairments, and the terms used to describe them are not always consistent. The CDC and the World Health Organization define low vision as a visual acuity between 20/70 and 20/400 with the best possible correction, or a visual field of 20 degrees or less. Blindness is described as a visual acuity worse than 20/400 with the best possible correction, or a visual field of 10 degrees or less. In the United States, the term "legally blind," means a visual acuity of 20/200 or worse with the best possible correction, or a visual field of 20 degrees or less. Although there are varying degrees of vision impairments, the visual problems an individual faces cannot be described simply by the numbers; some people can see better than others with the same visual acuity. There are many possible causes for vision impairment, including damage to the eye and the failure of the brain to interpret messages from the eyes correctly. The most common causes of vision impairment in American adults are: diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, cataracts, and glaucoma. Additionally, many individuals have monocular vision - perfect or nearly perfect vision in one eye, but little or no vision in the other. Vision impairment can occur at any time in life, but as a person's age increases, so does the likelihood that he or she will have some form of vision impairment. Persons with vision impairments successfully perform a wide range of jobs and can be dependable workers. Yet, many employers still automatically exclude them from certain positions based on generalizations about vision impairments and false assumptions that it would be too expensive, or perhaps even too dangerous, to employ them. Thus, employers may erroneously assume that any accommodation that would allow a person with a vision impairment to do her job would be too costly. Employers also may have liability concerns related to the fear of accidents and/or injuries. 1. When is a vision impairment a disability under the ADA? A vision impairment is a disability if: (1) it substantially limits a major life activity; (2) it was substantially limiting in the past (i.e., if an individual has a "record of" a substantially limiting impairment); or (3) an employer "regards" or treats an individual as having a substantially limiting vision impairment. Major life activities are those basic activities, including seeing, that an average person can perform with little or no difficulty. Whether a vision impairment actually substantially limits a major life activity depends on how significant the visual loss is. While a person who has no sight at all is obviously substantially limited in seeing, the assessment of most vision impairments requires a more individualized approach. Although mitigating measures that the individual uses, such as corrective lenses and compensatory strategies that the body has developed, must be taken into account, they do not automatically exclude someone from coverage under the first part of the ADA's definition of "disability." Example 1: An individual with a vision impairment wears eyeglasses, but they improve his poor vision only slightly. Even with eyeglasses, he cannot drive and needs strong magnification to read standard-sized print. This individual is substantially limited in seeing. Mitigating measures do not include devices, reasonable accommodations, or compensatory strategies that simply compensate for the fact that an individual is substantially limited in seeing. For example, a totally blind person still meets the ADA's first definition of "disability" even if she can move about freely with the use of a white cane or service animal, can work with assistive technology or a reader, and can use her hearing to do what others can do using sight (e.g., cross a street). Individuals with monocular vision also may meet the ADA's first definition of disability.(14) Example 2: An individual lost all of his sight in one eye as the result of an accident several years ago. He has learned some compensatory strategies, such as turning his head slightly to adjust for his loss of visual field and using shadows, highlights, and other visual cues to judge longer distances. However, he has loss of both peripheral vision and stereopsis (the ability to combine two retinal images into one that people with vision in both eyes accomplish easily). The loss of peripheral vision means that he is limited in seeing people or objects on his blind side and must position himself accordingly in meetings, theaters, or while walking down the street. Because he cannot see people approaching or standing on that side, he must rely on his hearing to detect that someone is near him and then must turn his head to see the person. The loss of stereopsis means that he has difficulty judging distances within a six-foot range, and thus cannot use his vision to guide him in reaching for objects or putting objects down on a table or other surface. Because of his lack of stereopsis, he must rely on memory or the sense of touch rather than vision to guide him in picking up and placing objects such as tools, pots and pans, books and pens. Similarly, he must rely on memory and tactile clues to negotiate stairs and stepping on and off curbs. All such tasks are more difficult for him because of his loss of vision and take him longer to perform than they take the average person. This individual still is substantially limited in seeing, despite the use of compensatory strategies such as using hearing, touch, or memory to substitute for his lack of vision in one eye. Some individuals with monocular vision have learned to compensate visually (e.g., by turning their head or using "monocular cues," such as shadows and highlights, to judge distances) effectively enough that they no longer are substantially limited. These individuals (as well as many others), however, still may meet one of the ADA's other definitions of disability. A person who has a record of an impairment that substantially limited a major life activity in the past or who is regarded by his employer as having such an impairment also has a disability and, therefore, is covered by the ADA. Although the second part of the definition -- having a record of a substantially limiting impairment -- does not apply frequently to individuals with vision impairments, examples of when it might apply would include situations in which someone's vision has been corrected surgically, or when an individual with monocular vision that was once substantially limiting has developed compensatory strategies over time. Being "regarded as" substantially limited in seeing is a more common basis for coverage. Example 3: As part of the hiring process for a manufacturing position, an employer requires a physical exam, including a vision test. An applicant with monocular vision fails the vision test, which requires a minimum of 20/40 vision in the better eye with correction, and no less than 20/100 vision in the weaker eye. The physician who conducted the physical examination recommends to the human resources department that the applicant not be hired, indicating in a notation on the application: "Failed vision test; essentially blind in one eye and lacks depth perception; recommend against hiring for any manufacturing work." In accordance with its typical practice of deferring to the recommendation of the employer's doctor, the human resources department withdraws its offer of employment to the applicant, never assessing whether she can in fact perform the essential functions of the job. If the doctor's statement that the applicant should not be hired for "any manufacturing work" meant that the applicant was unsuitable for manufacturing work generally and not just for a particular job in the employer's plant, the employer will have regarded the applicant as substantially limited in working in a class of jobs.

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