Visually Impaired/Blind In-Home Supportive Service Clients

Introduction
In 2006, many social workers that assess client-need for a local In-Home Supportive Services Program were required to add visually impaired/blind resources to the checklist of information that must be supplied to each home visit. Telling clients about resources and/or making referrals is both time consuming and necessary in many cases. Social workers are limited in the time they are able to spend with clients due to large caseloads. Large print brochures and resource cards, as well as audio resource information, is a way for clients to learn about useful options. These different types of hand-outs accommodate clients of differing levels of impairment and provide information about resources for reading material, services, and products that are available.

There are at least two strong arguments for using the hand-outs. First, by providing the client with current up-to-date information, a strengths perspective approach is used whereby the client decides when and what type of resource that he/she will access on their own. Second, the social worker frees up considerable time that would have been spent making referrals to resources on the client’s behalf.

Statement of Need
According to the American Foundation for the Blind (2006), “Every seven minutes, someone in America will become blind or visually impaired” (p.1). There are 5.5 million people aged 65 and over whom are blind or visually impaired in the United states (American Foundation for the Blind, 2006). Baby boomers turn 50 every 8.5 seconds (Baby Boomer Headquarters, 2006) and this will continue to inflate the numbers of older adults whom are visually impaired/blind.

In our country, there are more than 3,000 individuals with a sensory disability and almost one-third of that population is aged 65 and over (U.S. Census, 2000). Many of the social workers that visit clients are unaware of all of the resources that are available to their clients. Both the client and the social worker would benefit from resource listings.

Description of the Intervention
My community project included contacting resources for visually impaired/blind clients to obtain accurate and current information about what they have to offer. Three types of resource hand-outs were completed. One was a detailed large-print brochure explaining what each resource could provide in the way of service, reading material such as talking books and/or Braille books, and products. Another was an at-a-glance card in large-print for quick and easy access to resources. Finally, a small-print brochure was created for the social worker.

Evaluation of the Intervention
Samples of the hand-outs were presented to social workers along with a questionnaire as to their perceived benefit. The questionnaire included an assessment of the satisfaction level regarding information provided, way that information was presented, and time that will be saved.

Suggestions from social workers varied. Some workers found that the resource guide that was intended for the caregiver to help the client with resources, needed to be in larger print. One social worker suggested using some kind of picture to “give the brochure life” (Anonymous personal communication, April 28, 2006). Two other social workers added details about resources and provided additional resources. Lastly, a social worker provided more contact information about one of the resources. The feedback from the social workers was used to improve the hand-outs (Anonymous personal communication, April 28, 2006).

Reflections on the Project
Because of time limitations and changes in the project, I was unable to accomplish all of what I wanted to do. I had originally wanted to do a Braille resource card and asked for feedback from social workers in the questionnaire. The feedback indicated that the majority of the impaired vision/blind clients served by the agency do not know how to read Braille and so it was not included as an option. I had also wanted to do an audio version of the brochure but ran out of time. However, I think that future options should include Braille for the few clients that do use it, audio versions, and be available in different languages. If I had been able to commit to this project earlier, I may have completed more informational options.

References
American Foundation for the Blind (2006). Facts and figures topics. Blindness Statistics. Retrieved April 12, 2006 from http://www.afb.org/Section.asp?SectionID=15
Baby Boomer Headquarters (2006). The boomer stats. Boomer Statistics. Retrieved April 11, 2006 from http://www.bbhq.com/bomrstat.htm
United States Census Bureau (2000). American fact finder. Census 2000. Retrieved April 10, 2006 from http://factfinder.census.gov