Changing Attitudes, Changing Lives report celebrated at Houses of Parliament one year on from publication

Members of the eye care community gathered at the Houses of Parliament to mark one year since the publication of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Eye Health and Vision Impairment’s Changing Attitudes, Changing Lives report on Monday 2 February.

The event was hosted by the APPG’s chair, Marsha de Cordova MP, and saw speakers including Dame Diana Johnson MP, the minister for employment, take to the stage.

Addressing attendees, Johnson emphasised that “employers play a vital role in our shared goal of getting more blind and partially sighted people into employment.”

Johnson has recently met with Blind in Business, a charity that supports those with visual impairment into employment, she revealed.

Blind in Business helps those with sight loss to identify suitable career paths and build skills for employment, and can support with necessary reasonable adjustments, Johnson said.

“I was shocked to hear that many individuals will contact employers about those adjustments, and by the time that they receive a response, the deadline for the application has passed,” Johnson said.

She also noted that the current phase of the Keep Britain Working report will “test new employer-led approaches to support individuals to stay in work” and that “this will, of course, include people who have visual impairment.”

This will include how to tailor support and workplace adjustments for those with disabilities or health conditions, Johnson said.

She added: “This reception today is an opportunity to reflect on progress, to hear directly from employers and people with lived experience, and to focus on what still needs to change to ensure workplaces are genuinely inclusive.”

Platforming lived experience of visual impairment

Monique Hayles, a public affairs executive at the John Lewis Partnership, also spoke at the event.

Hayles explained that she was born with cataracts, had lost sight in one eye by the time she started school, and later developed glaucoma.

“Exclusion of disabled people leads to low public awareness of our disabilities and different perspectives of leaders in the workplace,” Hayles told attendees.

“I have minimised my disability to fit into mainstream settings,” she said.

Hayles added that it is “important that employers give visually impaired people the platform to speak about their experiences, and allow us to learn from each other, because each visually impaired person has a different experience.”

Attendees also heard from Jamie Ward, head of talent and learning at Channel 4.

Ward spoke about the value of the Get Set Progress internship programme, facilitated by the Thomas Pocklington Trust, which aims to successfully bring individuals with visual impairments into work.

Ward has worked with two Get Set Progress interns at Channel 4, he explained.

The programme is “enriching” and the “benefits to the individual are immeasurable,” Ward said.

One key learning is the difference in support needed between those who have lost their sight and those who have always lived with a visual impairment, Ward said.

It is vital that employers are aware of the difference in need between these two groups, he emphasised.

Ward also noted that often those with visual impairments are not confident in coming forward to ask for the training that they need, so being adaptable and able to deliver training in the moment is helpful.

Channel 4 is also starting to think about “off-boarding” its interns so that they can successfully move into permanent jobs elsewhere once their internship is complete, Ward said.

An “opportunity and an open door”

The Changing Attitudes, Changing Lives report spoke to employers and people with visual impairments to gather an understanding of the attitudes towards recruitment and employment of those with sight loss, as well as experiences within the workplace.

The event was rearranged from the autumn, when tube strikes saw original plans postponed. The Changing Attitudes, Changing Lives report was published in October 2024.

The report came about after a series of oral evidence sessions and the gathering of 60 written submissions in the first half of 2024.

“The inquiry was launched because the APPG was hearing time and time again that blind and partially sighted people still faced significant challenges when it came to accessing the labour market,” de Cordova told attendees.

She added: “The opportunities weren’t there, but more importantly, the paid employment wasn’t there.”

There is only a one in four chance that a visually impaired person will be in work, and this is a statistic that has worsened in the past 20 years, she emphasised.

De Cordova thanked the sight loss sector, charities and those with lived experience for both attending the event and contributing to the report.

The inquiry revealed that barriers are often not about ability, but about systems, structures, attitudes and assumptions, de Cordova said.

“The report also highlighted the persistence of some of those misconceptions and concerns about cost, productivity and capability. This is despite evidence showing that, with the right support, blind and partially sighted people can thrive,” de Cordova added.

The report set out practical solutions that should be implemented for “urgent action,” de Cordova said.

Suggestions included a Government-led disability employment strategy, and a review of the Equality Act 2010 to ensure that it is “fit for purpose in the 21st century.”

The APPG will release a summary document with an updated list of suggested actions, which will include insights gathered from the event, in the near future.

De Cordova also noted progress seen since the report was published, including the November 2025 publication of the Keep Britain Working report.

When it comes to employment, “people just need the opportunity and an open door,” de Cordova emphasised.

She added: “From now, it’s about those discussions and conversations going forward. I would like to say, in six months’ time, that we have continued to make progress.”

“I look forward to engaging with the Government on their work as we as we progress in terms of creating more opportunities for blind and partially sighted people,” she said.

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“Step change” needed, report says

A government-led disability employment strategy is amongst the recommendations set out in the Changing attitudes; changing lives report