Booming U.S. Economy Bypasses the Blind
Associated Press - July 9, 1999

ATLANTA - In a labor market so tight that many employers are begging for
workers, 70 percent of blind Americans who want a job can't find one, and
advocates blame discrimination, a drop in Braille literacy and, perhaps most
important, the computer mouse. 

With the nation's overall unemployment rate at close to a 29-year low of 4.3
percent, the level of joblessness among the blind has remained stagnant for
about a decade, according to the U.S. Labor Department. 

"The Americans with Disabilities Act seems to have had no impact on this,"
said Barbara Pierce, spokeswoman for the National Federation of the Blind,
which is holding its annual convention in Atlanta through Tuesday. 

Over the years, technology has made things much easier for blind people.
Converting text to Braille, once a painstaking process, can now be done by
computers and some office equipment is available with Braille-embossed
buttons. 

But other technology has hurt the employment chances of the 750,000 blind
Americans. 

Many blind people once worked as receptionists, taking dictation and
answering the phone for managers and executives. But voice mail and e-mail
have changed the job description, requiring more computer skills. 

And software that requires the user to move around the screen with a mouse
and click on icons - is nearly impossible for blind people to use. 

Advocates said another problem has been a decline in the number of blind
children learning Braille. During the past 30 years, the percentage of blind
children learning Braille in the United States has fallen from about 50
percent to less than 10 percent, according to the federation.