NCBI Employment Support provides a service to people with sight loss who may need assistance with employment retention or those who are seeking employment. This includes providing support, advice, and training to aid accessibility and inclusion in the workplace. We partner with businesses to create an inclusive, accessible workplace and advocate for the rights and entitlements of people with sight loss in the workforce or pre-employment.
Pre-Employment/Job Seeking
Whether you have a general idea of a career path you would like to pursue or a specific role you are hoping to apply for, your CRW can work with you to enable you to take the next step. Some areas of intervention may include: mobility training, assistive technology training and support, communication skills, self-advocacy skills, interpersonal skills, and employer-employee support.
More info please call 1800 911 250.
Did you know?
NCBI offers Ireland’s only accredited employment training courses for people with a vision impairment?
Less than 1 in 4 people with a vision impairment are currently actively participating in the labour force.
Employment Support and Retention
Your Community Resource Worker can assist you if you are facing issues with retaining work/employment/volunteering roles because of your sight loss. This can include supporting and training you in accessibility features on your equipment and new assistive technology.
We may also look at new ways to complete the tasks you need to do for work by adapting the activities, creating an accessible environment for you to work in, and collaborating with your employer to ensure you are given every chance to carry out your work to the best of your ability.
Your CRW can refer you to the Employment Support Service should you require additional intervention with regard to employment support and retention.
Employment Support Service
The Employment Support Service within the NCBI National Training Centre (Drumcondra, Dublin) focuses on specialist employment supports and partners with businesses nationally to support work experience opportunities and internships for students and actively engages in raising awareness and advocating for the rights of service users for equity in employment opportunities.
NCBI Employment Support Service is keen to raise the current low levels of people who are blind or visually impaired in the labour market. Its current programmes include:
- Pre-Employment Training Programme (PETP)
NCBI’s PETP is aimed at people preparing to enter the workforce. The course provides the opportunity for participants to practice and develop self-advocacy skills, build confidence, whilst developing a CV and participating in mock job interviews hosted by a Workplace Partner.
- Workplace Partnership Programme
NCBI’s Workplace Partner Programme supports blind or visually impaired job seekers by providing work experience and internship placements of up to six months in an appropriate field. NCBI supports both participants and partner organisations both prior to and during placement with advice on available adaptation grants, assistive technology supports and opportunities for in-house awareness disability training. Current Workplace Partners include Robert Walters Recruitment, Fujitsu, Salesforce, and the Central Bank.
These programme form part of NCBI’s Visable project which is approved by Government with support from the Dormant Accounts Fund.
Did you know?
The levels of vision impairment vary greatly between individuals – avoid a one size fits all solution.
Learn what accommodations or adaptations could be needed from employees with a vision impairment.
Guidelines for recruiting and employing people with vision impairments
Employing a person with sight loss: A Guide for Employers
Our guide to employing someone with sight loss has been designed to address those questions and to set out the benefits of employing a blind or vision impaired person.