NIB Connection

On November 29, NIB launched Heard & Empowered, a groundbreaking podcast that shares job and career insights, inspiration, and insider tips specifically tailored to the blind and visually impaired community.  People who are blind have one of the highest unemployment rates at 70%. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the jobless rate for people with […]

In this season of gratitude, NIB and its nationwide network of associated nonprofit agencies thank our supporters for aiding in our mission to empower people who are blind to achieve greater independence and engagement in their communities. We wish you and yours a happy Thanksgiving and joyous holiday season.

Employees who are blind working at NIB associated nonprofit agencies produce thousands of products for the U.S. armed forces and military veterans every year. From neckties for dress uniforms to fatigues to helmet components, hundreds of employees work each day to provide critical supplies. Still others operate switchboards for medical centers operated by the Department […]

October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM), an annual recognition of the workplace contributions of people with disabilities sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Disability Employment Policy. This year’s NDEAM theme, “Advancing Equity and Access,” emphasizes the need to ensure people with disabilities have equal opportunities to prepare for and succeed […]

Despite having a successful 12-year career in management and owning a flooring business for 13 years, Craig Ellis struggled to find employment after he became blind due to macular degeneration. “Most of my flooring business was tied to new construction, so I was hit hard by the housing crash of 2008. After I lost my […]

Mary Elizabeth Clare distinctly remembers starting her job as a store clerk at the AbilityOne Base Supply Center® (BSC) operated by Envision at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho. It was March 2020, and the next day the base closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Deemed essential, the BSC remained open, but customer traffic […]

Thanks to today’s digital revolution, there is no shortage of new technologies available for people with visual or hearing impairments. But for the estimated 7 million people in the world who have both visual and hearing impairments (according to World Health Organization data), assistive technology options are few and far between. When I learned of […]

According to VisionServe Alliance, a forum of U.S. and Canadian organizations working to build a better world for people with vision loss, at least 12 million people in the U.S. age 60 and older report significant difficulty seeing. In addition, at least half of Americans aged 65 and older are at high risk of developing […]

In 1938, the United States was nearly a decade into the Great Depression. The unemployment rate was up, and production rates were down. The world had a very limited idea of what people who were blind could do, making employment even harder to obtain. However, there was hope on the horizon. President Franklin D. Roosevelt […]

In 1967, the General Services Administration (GSA) had a problem. The standard-issue U.S. government pen had been redesigned to stringent new specifications, which the private company making the pen couldn’t meet. Instead, they delivered 13 million defective pens to GSA. Looking for a new supplier, GSA Commissioner Heinz Abersfeller asked National Industries for the Blind […]