Network 1000: Comparing the General and Registered Visually Impaired Populations

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Network 1000 Survey 1: Comparing the General and Registered Visually ImpairedPopulations

Reportfor the RNIB

May 2009

Authors:

Ben Clements

Graeme Douglas

Visual Impairment Centre for Teaching and Research (VICTAR)

School of Education

University of Birmingham

Birmingham, B15 2TT

1.1...1Contents

Acknowledgements

Executive summary

Introduction to this research

Summary of main findings

1Introduction

1.1Aims of this report

1.2Structure of this report

2Method

2.1Survey design issues

2.2Weighting

2.3Question wording and response options

2.4Presenting the data

2.5Overview of the Network 1000 sample

2.6Reporting style and protocol

3The home and housing

3.1Marital status

3.2Living alone

3.3Housing tenure

3.4Those renting their homes

3.5Type of accommodation

3.6Providing personal care to someone in the home

3.7Key findings

4Independent living

4.1Key findings

5Health and disabilities

5.1Key findings

6Employment

6.1Employment status

6.2Part-time working

6.3Nature of employment

6.4Non-working people - reasons for leaving last paid job

6.5Unemployed people

6.6Employment and education

6.7Key findings

7Benefits and allowances

7.1Pensions

7.2Disability allowances, benefits and tax credits

7.3Benefits and payments for those not working

7.4Family benefits and allowances

7.5Housing benefits and allowances

7.6Key findings

8Financial circumstances

8.1Perceptions of financial situation

8.2Housing related payments

8.3Key findings

9Travel

9.1Key findings

10Computer use

10.1Computer ownership

10.2Frequency of computer use

10.3Computer activities

10.4Key findings

11Education

11.1Key findings

12Leisure

12.1Key findings

13Appendix 1: Profiling the socio-demographic composition of the general population from a comparison survey

14Appendix 2: Comparing the economic activity of visually impaired people across surveys – an overview

15Appendix 3: Full wording of survey questions

15.1British Household Panel Survey

15.2General Household Survey

15.3British Social Attitudes

15.4United Kingdom Time Use Survey

15.5Network 1000 Survey 1

16References

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank colleagues at the Visual Impairment Centre for Teaching and Research, University of Birmingham, for their support during the period in which the report was produced. We would particularly like to thank Sue Keil at the RNIB for her encouragement throughout this project and for her helpful feedback on an earlier version of this report. We are also grateful to Paul Herriotts, formerly of the RNIB, for his role in conceiving the idea for this analysis and his input and encouragement during the earlier stages of the work.

This report builds upon the Network 1000 project (VISION 2020 UK / University of Birmingham) and in particular the first main report presented from that work (Douglas, Corcoran and Pavey, 2006).

We gratefully acknowledge the UK Data Archive, University of Essex, for providing the survey datasets from which much of the evidence presented in this report is derived.

Executive summary

Introduction to this research

The aim of this report is to compare the opinions and circumstances of the general population with the registered blind and partially sighted population in the UK for a number of topics. Conducting this research enables us to provide a ‘benchmark’ for the wealth of information obtained about the experiences and opinions of registered visually impaired participants who took part in Network 1000 Survey One and published in Network 1000: Opinions and circumstances of visually impaired people in Great Britain (2006). This report is divided into several main sections:

Section 1 introduces the objectives of this report and situates this comparison research in a wider context.
Section 2 discusses some key issues relating to the methodological basis of this research and summarises the sources used for this research
Sections 3 to 12 provide a comparison of the registered visually impaired and general populations on specific topics.

There are also several appendices which may be of interest to readers:

Section 13: Appendix 1 profiles the socio-demographic composition of the general population analysed in this report.
Section 14: Appendix 2 provides a detailed commentary of employment rates based upon the varying definitions of visual impairment used in different surveys.
Section 15: Appendix 3 provides the full wording of the questions used in this report (arranged by source and topic for the comparison and visually impaired samples).
Finally, Section 16 provides a full list of the references which have informed this report.

Summary of main findings

The following section summarises the main findings from our comparison of the experiences and circumstances of the registered visually impaired and general populations in the UK. To reiterate, we are looking specifically at those people who are registered as visually impaired (either blind or partially sighted). We arrange the findings according to the sequence of topics discussed in this report.

The home and housing

There is evidence that registered visually impaired people between 30-64 years of age are more likely to be single (i.e. less likely to be ‘living as a couple’ or ‘married’) compared with the general population of the same age. This is reflected in the greater likelihood that registered visually impaired people of working age live alone compared with the general population.
There is evidence that registered visually impaired people of working age are less likely to own their home outright or with a mortgage (i.e. more likely to be in rented accommodation) compared with the general population of the same age. These differences are less clear amongst people of retirement age.
Of those renting, registered visually impaired people were most likely to rent their home from housing associations or charitable trusts. In contrast, the general population were more likely to rent from a local authority or private landlord.
Linked to these findings, registered visually impaired people of working age tend to live in smaller dwellings (e.g. more likely to occupy flats and maisonettes, less likely to occupy detached or semi-detached houses) compared with the general population of the same age.

Independent living

Unsurprisingly, there is clear evidence that greater proportions of the registered visually impaired population experience difficulty with a range of household tasks compared to the general population. Future surveys of visually impaired people would usefully replicate questions which have been used in existing general-purpose surveys.

Health and disabilities

There is a general increase in the likelihood of people having a long term health problem or disability as they get older (whether visually impaired or not). Nevertheless there is clear evidence that registered visually impaired people are more likely to report having a long term health problem or disability (in addition to their visual impairment) compared with the general population. These differences are more pronounced in younger age groups.

Employment

The evidence shows there are clear differences in employment status between the registered visually impaired and general populations of working age. Three-quarters of the general population reported being in some form of employment. The equivalent figure for registered visually impaired people is only a third.
Registered visually impaired people are more likely to describe themselves as being unemployed, long-term sick or disabled, or retired than those in the general population.
The 50-64 age group of registered visually impaired people have particularly low employment rates (only 21 per cent). This compares to about 70 per cent for the same age group in the general population.
Of those working part-time, around a quarter of registered visually impaired people reported that this was mainly because of their visual impairment. In comparison, fewer people in the general population reported working part-time because of illness or disability (less than 5 per cent).
Interestingly, amongst those in work there is no difference in levels of overall job satisfaction between the registered visually impaired and general populations. In both cases over four-fifths reported being satisfied with their current employment.
For those not working, registered visually impaired people are more likely to have been out of work for a longer period of time compared to the general population. Over half of registered visually impaired people without a job had been out of work for five years or more compared with 12 per cent of the general population.
Related to this, registered visually impaired people who are currently unemployed were far less optimistic that they will find a job in the next 12 months compared to unemployed people in the general population.
Of those not currently working, over half of registered visually impaired people reported the main reason for leaving their job was their visual impairment (32 per cent) or other health-related reasons (24 per cent). This compares with 12 per cent of the general population who reported health-related reasons.
It is clear that holding an educational qualification is a key ‘enabler’ for obtaining employment. This is true for both the registered visually impaired and the general populations.
Amongst registered visually impaired people, only those with a degree or higher have a better than even chance of obtaining employment (and even then the rate of employment in this group is similar to that for the group with no qualifications in the general population).
For registered visually impaired people, the evidence shows that there is a steady decline in the employment rate as the level of educational attainment falls. In contrast, people in the general population generally maintain higher levels of employment irrespective of level of educational attainment (with the exception of those with no qualifications).
In particular, registered visually impaired people with no qualifications experience exceptionally low levels of employment (around 1 in 7 are in work compared to over 1 in 2 for the corresponding group in the general population).

Benefits and allowances

There is some evidence that a slightly higher proportion of registered visually impaired people of working age are drawing upon private occupational pensions compared to people in the general population.
Unsurprisingly, a much higher proportion of registered visually impaired people report receiving disability related benefits compared with the general population.
Of those not working, registered visually impaired people are proportionately less likely to receive benefits relating to seeking work compared with the general population. This is probably related to registered visually impaired people who are not working being more likely to be economically inactive.
Of those who have dependent children living at home, registered visually impaired people reported that they were twice as likely to receive working tax credit compared to equivalent people in the general population.
Registered visually impaired people are generally more likely to get Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit compared with people in the general population. This difference is particularly high amongst people of working age.
Some of these findings indicate that registered visually impaired people are more likely to belong to lower income households.

Financial circumstances

Registered visually impaired people of working age report greater financial difficulty than people of working age in the general population. That is, 45 per cent of working age visually impaired people describe their financial situation as ‘just about getting by’ or worse compared with 31 per cent of the general population. This difference in perception of financial situation is not apparent amongst people aged 18 to 29 years.
In terms of people of retirement age, registered visually impaired people do not appear to differ in their perception of financial difficulty compared to those in the general population. Indeed, they may report being financially more comfortably off.

There were no clear differences between registered visually impaired people and those in the general population in relation to difficulties with housing payments, except in relation to those aged 50-64 years of age where registered visually impaired people are more likely to experience problems.

Retirement age people in the general population are more likely to report receiving full rent rebate, though the reasons for this need further investigation.

Travel

There were few questions which allowed meaningful comparison between Network 1000 and available general surveys in the area of transport and travel.

Registered visually impaired people who are working or studying appear to use cars less than the equivalent group in the general population. Nevertheless, registered visually impaired people of all ages reported commonly using the car as a mode of transport (in spite of having to relying on others to drive).

Computer use

Registered visually impaired people aged between 30 and 64 years have lower levels of home computer availability than people of the same age in the general population.
Longitudinal general surveys demonstrate that home computer use has increased greatly amongst the general population in recent years. This is particularly true for those of working age. While Network 100 Survey 1 cannot capture this trend, there is evidence that registered visually impaired people use computers relatively less often at home, particularly for accessing the internet.

Education

Taking into account the comparative evidence given here, the most interesting finding is the notable age-related differences for both the registered visually impaired and general populations (younger people are more likely to have higher qualifications than older people).

There is some evidence that registered visually impaired people are slightly more likely to have degrees (and less likely to have no qualifications) than people in the general population. Some caution is required here as this may reflect some degree of bias in the Network 1000 sample.

Amongst the two youngest age groups, people with a registered visual impairment are more likely to report having no qualifications than the equivalent groups in the general population.
Participants from the Network 1000 survey aged 25-54 are more likely to possess a ‘high’ level qualification than those who are classed as ‘long term disabled with a seeing difficulty’ in the Labour Force Survey but less likely to than those defined as ‘not disabled, but with a seeing difficulty’.
In the 55-64 age group, however, Network 1000 participants are less likely to possess a ‘high’ qualification than either of the wider visually impaired populations captured in the Labour Force Survey definitions.

Leisure

Registered visually impaired people appear less likely to participate in some activities which occur outside the home compared to the general population. This appears to be most notable in relation to ‘going out for a drink’, attending evening classes and local group meetings, and attending religious worship.

1.Introduction

The aim of this report is to compare the opinions and circumstances of the general population with the registered blind and partially sighted population in the UK on a number of topics. Conducting this research enables us to provide a ‘benchmark’ for the wealth of information obtained about the experiences and opinions of registered visually impaired participants who took part in Network 1000 Survey 1 and published in Network 1000: Opinions and circumstances of visually impaired people in Great Britain (2006).

As this is a multi-purpose report, rather than one with a specialised focus on a particular theme or set of themes, we follow other general reports of survey data concerning the experiences of disabled people and include those with visual impairment within the general population when analysing the comparison surveys (Williams et al 2008). The ‘general population’ analysed here comprises both visually impaired and non-visually impaired people, Other analyses, such as Meager and Carta’s (2008) study of visually impaired people and their labour market experiences, have compared the visually impaired population with those who do not have a visual impairment.

As will be clear in the tables included in this report, the samples from the comparison surveys tend to be very large, although, as would be expected, the actual sizes vary by survey and depending upon the measure being used.

1.1 Aims of this report

The principal aims of this project are twofold. Firstly, to provide a detailed comparison with the findings presented in Network 1000: Opinions and circumstances of visually impaired people in Great Britain. Secondly, to compile a report that, on its own merits, may be used as a standalone document for profiling the registered visually impaired and general population on a range of topics relating to individuals’ socio-economic circumstances and their participation in their wider social environment. As a result, this report may be used as a general reference tool for ‘dipping in and out of’ as well as providing more detailed cross-sectional profiles on topics of interest.

1.2 Structure of this report

This report is based upon a series of sections each of which address one topic concerning a different aspect of individuals’ experiences and opinions. Each section contains a varying number of tables which report comparison figures for the general and registered visually-impaired populations and an accompanying written commentary. Each section also includes a ‘key findings’ box which gives a succinct overview of key findings from each topic area and addresses where there are limitations in terms of drawing workable comparisons, suggesting where more extensive evidence is needed. The topics analysed in the Network 1000 report for which we have a range of comparison data are as follows:

The home and housing
Independent living
Health and disabilities
Employment
Benefits and allowances
Financial circumstances
Travel
Computer use
Education
Leisure

2 Method

2.1 Survey design issues

In this section we set out some important considerations relating to the comparison surveys used in this analysis. For each of these comparison surveys, the individual datasets have been downloaded from the UK Data Archive and subjected to detailed secondary analysis. This has involved a detailed audit of which items provide the most usable comparisons with the questions asked in the Network 1000 survey, which has necessarily entailed paying close attention to the wording of potential comparison questions and the response categories they offer. In some cases, the response categories used in the comparison surveys have been reworked (e.g. collapsing items) to allow more meaningful comparisons with the Network 1000 data. It is worth reiterating here that some of the questions asked in the Network 1000 survey were informed by long-standing measures used in social surveys in the UK. All of the comparison data presented in this report has been generated through this process of secondary analysis; none of it has been ‘taken off the shelf’ or ‘cut and pasted’ from existing research reports or articles.