The untapped strength of candidates with low vision or blindness: A note to employers

Across Australia, employers are searching for people who can think clearly under pressure, learn fast, adapt to change and bring fresh, practical thinking to complex problems. What many don’t realise is that these qualities are often inherent in candidates who live with low vision or blindness.

These strengths aren’t theoretical - they’re built through daily life. Navigating without vision or with low vision, environments that often aren’t designed with accessibility in mind requires planning, resilience, problem-solving and the ability to process large volumes of information quickly. These are precisely the capabilities workplaces value most.

Workplace-ready strengths common in people with low vision or blindness:

• Calm under pressure – years of adapting to unpredictable pedestrian travel demands, builds steady, reliable decision-making.
• Exceptional focus – relying on auditory input only, to process information, builds efficiency and the ability to filter for relevance.
• Advanced planning and risk assessment skills – in the absence of a car licence, daily pedestrian travel requires route planning, such as knowing public transport timetables, determining safest road crossing points.
• Strong situational awareness – walking into a room without vision quickly builds skills to read the room in alternate ways, to anticipate challenges and make quick, thoughtful adjustments.
• Emotional regulation – built from constantly managing uncontrollable external variables and expectations, keeping “cool” becomes a learnt first response.
• Empathetic listening – through lived experience, and negotiating constant challenge, low vision or blind employees are often suited to customer support roles, where a willingness to listen and respond in a considered way is important.
• Tech fluency – low vison and blind individuals are often early adapters of technology. This mastery of assistive tech, keyboard shortcuts, digital tools and screen reading (using synthesised speech, often at 2 to 3 times faster than average sighted user) can position them with skills their sighted peers simply do not have.
• Systems thinking –a strong auditory memory facilitates rapid learning, and the ability to grasp complex processes quickly.
• Natural problem-solving – thinking outside the box isn’t an exception; it’s everyday life, building resilience, adaptability and innovate thinking.

Reframe your thinking of disability to a strength - it’s capability

When workplaces remove physical and attitudinal barriers, they gain access to talent that is adaptable, strategic and highly motivated.

Many of the fears and misconceptions employers have stem simply from unfamiliarity. But when organisations make space for diverse ways of working, they benefit from employees who bring resilience, clarity, innovation and a mindset shaped by lived experience. Small accessibility adjustments like desk location, markers on stairs, accessible software, or adjusted lighting are often all that’s required.

Why this matters for your organisation

Inclusive hiring isn’t only socially good, it’s a business advantage.
Employees who are resourceful, quick learners, emotionally steady and technologically advanced strengthen every team they join.

Of course, we can’t generalise. But what is often seen, borne out of necessity and life learning, is that many blind and low vision employees develop skills their sighted peers simply don’t have.

By opening your doors to suitably qualified candidates with low vision or blindness, you’re not “making an exception.” You’re recognising exceptional talent.