Reality Check

Income Gaps: Full-time, year-round workers with disabilities in Ohio experience a median earnings gap of over $11,000 less per year than workers without disabilities (OOD Needs Assessment).
Poverty Rates: An estimated 28.4% of working-age Ohioans with disabilities live in poverty, compared to 10.0% of their non-disabled peers (OOD Needs Assessment).

The Degree Divide: Adults with vision impairments who hold a college degree achieve employment rates over 60%, compared to just 26% for those with less than a high school education (NRTC Employment Outcomes).
Transition Pipelines: State vocational data tracks over 207,000 working-age young adults (ages 18–34) with disabilities in Ohio, highlighting a vital window for higher education and career training support (OOD Needs Assessment).

The Employment Gap: Nationally, 43.6% to 52.3% of working-age adults with visual impairments are employed, compared to over 76% of fully sighted peers (Disability Statistics Compendium).
Ohio Context: Working-age Ohioans with vision disabilities face a state employment rate of roughly 47.8% (OOD Needs Assessment).
Service Shortfalls: In Ohio, 83 out of 88 counties reach 30% or fewer of the estimated individuals who could benefit from specialized vocational rehabilitation services (OOD Needs Assessment).

The Power of Tools: Roughly 81.7% of employed individuals who are blind or low vision rely heavily on mobile devices, software, and assistive tools as essential workplace equalizers (MSU NRTC Workplace AT Study).
Ongoing Barriers: Despite high technology adoption, 59.1% of working-age adults with vision loss report that poorly formatted software, inaccessible websites, and unremediated digital documents remain their biggest daily professional hurdle (MSU NRTC Workplace AT Study).

Late-Life Prevalence: Approximately 28% of adults aged 71 and older experience vision impairment, driven by age-related conditions like macular degeneration, cataracts, and glaucoma (NCOA / JAMA Ophthalmology).
Daily Living & Safety: Vision loss directly impacts a senior's ability to safely manage medications, household finances, and home navigation—compounding the risk that 1 in 4 Americans over 65 faces from annual falls (CDC Older Adult Falls).
Social Impact: Visually impaired older adults face significantly higher rates of loneliness (71% vs. 26% for sighted peers) due to transportation and mobility barriers (All About Vision / Lancet Framework).

Reality check