Narrative: j. 1. A.

MCB, in consultation with the MCB SRC and a number of other agencies serving the blind, commissioned a comprehensive needs assessment that was completed in 2005. The methodology used for the assessment was a telephone poll conducted by UMass Poll of a random sample of registrants. The MCB RC was satisfied with the original comprehensive needs assessment conducted for MCB by the UMass Poll, so it was decided that the comprehensive needs assessment would be replicated by MCB staff. Other needs assessments were completed during FY 2009 and FY 2012. A fourth needs assessment, using the same questions and methodology was undertaken in 2014 and completed in 2015.

The MCB RC worked with the agency on the development and implementation of the 2018 comprehensive needs assessment methodology in line with the requirements and focus of WIOA on competitive integrated employment. One focus group was held and a web-based survey was developed and conducted.

The RC had previously expressed concerns that Survey Monkey is not secure so Google Forms was used. While Google Forms is minimally accessible, in practice, it proved to not be user-friendly for blind consumers.  The RC and MCB will re-think and re-evaluate future use of web-based surveys. MCB will work with closely with the RC and a sub-committee on needs assessment to plan future needs assessment methodology.  Recently, the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind (MCB) engaged a consultant to develop an MCB survey of its consumers to support MCB’s efforts to better ascertain the data dynamics of people with blindness throughout the Commonwealth.  The goal of this innovative program is to enhance its development and targeting of future programming and to contribute to its comprehensive needs assessment.  The consultant developed a short survey to be asked during the intake process.  The consultant developed a much larger panel of questions that could be used in the survey of existing clients.   Now MCB is looking to progress to the next stage which will be implementing the surveys. MCB has issued an RFR to seek a consultant to provide guidance via a report and to implement the long survey that will go to existing consumers and provide analytics on the data collected.  Representatives of the RC will provide feedback throughout this process.

The full analysis and report of the most recent comprehensive needs assessment is below.

Massachusetts Commission for the Blind

Comprehensive Needs Assessment 2018

Executive Summary

This report describes research undertaken by the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind (MCB) to investigate the needs, interests, and opinions of the legally blind in Massachusetts. The contents of this report are intended to inform MCB and relevant organizations that work with blind residents for the purpose of planning and coordination of services as well as of building awareness about issues and rehabilitation needs facing legally blinded consumers.

Data for the study was drawn from an online survey using Google Forms. A sample of 1,950 blinded residents across all age groups was sent an email with the online survey link. A total of 167 responses were received. The response rate is about 9%. The survey questionnaire contains 47 questions in total.

Key Findings in Brief

Demographic Highlights

• The survey sample was slightly young, mostly white, highly educated, and had good self-rated health.

Employment

• Most of survey respondents (76%) were not working or just working part-time. However, only half of them were interested in finding a job or more work.
• In general, respondents’ awareness of the importance of means to help them get employed was relatively low.
   

Travel and Safety

• Respondents were, in general, able to travel safely in familiar areas, both in indoor and outdoor areas. However, they felt much less safe to travel in unfamiliar outdoor areas and to use public transportation.
• The primary means of transportation were family and public transportation. And the majority reported their transportation needs were met.

Communication and Information

• Computer was the most preferred method of communication. And most people considered computer skills to be very important for job market.
• However, about 20% of respondents were not using a computer. The most common reason was “don’t know how”.
• Although 70% of respondents used multiple types of assistive technology, about 20% of respondents were not using assistive technology.
• Only a small share (17%) reported a need for vocational counseling. 
• MCB was the most helpful agency that provided the most assistance.
   

Recommendations

Readers are cautioned against drawing strong conclusions based on sampling results with small numbers of respondents. From the results of this survey, services are needed in each area mentioned in this study. We also included 16 questions about the Transition and Pre-employment Transition Services Program (for young adults age 14-21). However, only 25 respondents answered. In any future study, it is suggested to separate respondents who have retired from those who have not worked before (e.g. students) in the responses. In addition, it is crucial to take accessibility into account when conducting any online survey in future research.

Lastly, it would be helpful to carry out surveys using other methods (i.e. in person interview, focus group, etc.) rather than only an online survey. Electronic means of information distribution, such as website or email, may not be the most effective in reaching people with vision impairment, especially for older blind adults.

Introduction

There were 28,000 legally blind registrants in Massachusetts in 2018. And there were 4,144 registrants who had email addresses recorded ed. The purpose of this survey was to investigate the needs, opinions, and issues for the Blind community in MA and to inform MCB and relevant organizations to plan and to coordinate vocational rehabilitation services.

Demographics

This survey had 167 respondents, with 53% Male and 41% Female, with 1% indicating “I do not identify as male or female” and 4% not answering. About one-third of survey respondents (31%) were 65 and over years old, compared to 65% over 65 years old in 2014 survey.  13% were aged 22-35; 8% aged 36-45; 11% aged 46-55; 16% aged 56-64. Young adults between 14 and 21 years old, which were the targeted population for the Transition and Pre-employment Transition Services Program, made up 15% (25 respondents). 3% were under age 14 and 4% preferred not to answer.

The survey respondents were somewhat diverse with respect to race and ethnicity. The large majority of Massachusetts legally blind residents reported their race as White (71%), followed by African American (8%). Approximately 7% of respondents reported Hispanic ethnicity. A small portion (2%) reported an Asian race. The remaining 11% did not report or did not know their race.

The respondents’ highest education attainment was asked. Approximately 81% of respondents completed high school or higher education. About 12% of respondents reported their highest education attainment as less than high school. 25% reported post-college graduate education; 22% college graduation; 20% high school graduation; 14% some college. The remaining 6% of respondents’ highest education attainment was missing. The result indicates that these legally blind registrants in Massachusetts are well educated on average.

A large share of respondents (80%) reported their overall health as good or excellent. Only 3% of respondents reported poor overall health. (31% excellent; 17% fair; 49% good; 1% missing.)

Employment

More than half of the respondents (63%) reported not working at all at the survey point of time. This group included retired, not applicable, or unemployed. About one-fifth respondents (22%) were working full-time, compared to 13% working part-time, with 2% missing an answer.

Among those respondents who are part-time or not working at all (n=126), about 57% of them were interested in finding a job or more work (21% “somewhat interested” and 36% of them “very interested”). The remaining 43% of respondents showed no interest in finding a job or more work (34% “not interested at all” and 9% “not very interested”).

For all survey respondents, no matter whether they were currently employed or unemployed, about 40% of them believed that it is very important to learn about jobs that people who are blind have done successfully, and another 28% of them also considered that it is somewhat important. On the contrary, about one-third (30%) of respondents reported that it was not very important (10%), or it was not important at all (20%) to learn about jobs that blind people have done successfully. 2% did not answer.

Similarly, about 58% of respondents reported that “Deciding what kind of work would be possible for you” was very important (36%) or somewhat important (22%) while the remaining 40% of them thought that it was not very important (10%) or not important at all (30%). 2% did not answer. Regarding the importance of training in a rehabilitation center, less than half (42%) of respondents reported “very important” (15%) or “somewhat important” (27%). Most respondents (56%) answered “not very important” (20%) or “not important at all” (36%). The remaining 2% did not answer this question.

When it comes to the importance of employment program such as supported employment that provides a job coach, it is reported that 41% of respondents thought it was “very important” (23%) or “somewhat important” (17%); whereas 58% of respondents thought it was “not very important” (21%) or “not important at all” (37%).  2% did not answer.

Data from the questions about employment suggests that it is necessary and urgent to raise respondents’ awareness of means to learn about and obtain employment.

When asked about the most important thing in the past that led to you getting a job, approximately 18% of respondents chose “right place at the right time”, followed by “help from family and friends” (14%) and “help from an agency” (14%). A small portion of respondents answered, “school placement service” and “answering an ad”, 6% and 5%, respectively. About 30% of respondents answered “other”, which included self-employed, professional network, or not applicable (i.e. students never worked before, not legally blind then, or retired). The remaining 13% of respondents did not answer this question.

Among the most important factors that led to success on the job, 29% of respondents considered job skills as the most important thing, followed by “hard work” (25%).  11% chose “ability to get along with others”; 7% “a mentor or co-worker”. It is noted that 15% of respondents answered “other”, most of whom wrote down “more than one factor”. It would be better to include this question as a multiple-choice question in the future.  14% did not answer this question.

Among those who worked, only 22% of respondents used a one-stop career center at some level (3% “often and 19% “some”). The majority of respondents (74%) used one-stop career center not often (21%) or not at all (53%).  3% did not answer.

Travel and Safety

Approximately 88% of respondents reported that they could safely travel at home and in familiar indoor areas (69% “very safely” and 19% “somewhat safely”). The remaining 8% of respondents said that they felt “not very safely” (3%) or “not safely at all” (5%) about navigating at home and indoor familiar areas.  4% did not answer.

As for traveling in outdoor familiar areas, about 81% of respondents said “very safely” (46%) or “somewhat safely” (35%). A slightly larger share of respondents (16%) answered “not very safely” (8%) or “not safely at all” (8%) relative to travel outdoors in familiar areas. 4% did not answer.

In unfamiliar areas outdoors, 15% of respondents said that they could travel very safely and 46% of them said that they could travel somewhat safely. It is noted that 37% of respondents said that they did not feel very safe (17%) or did not feel safe at all (20%) when traveling in unfamiliar areas outdoors. 3% did not answer.

About one-third of respondents (28%) felt very safe when traveling by public transportation, while the other one-third (35%) felt somewhat safe. It is important to note that another one-third (30%) of respondents felt not very safe (16%) or not safe at all (14%) to use public transportation. 7% did not answer.

The most common source of transportation for the survey respondents was family, reported by 44%, followed by public transportation (25%). The third primary means of transportation was the RIDE (14%). Ride sharing (e.g. Uber/Lyft) made up about 8%. Another 5% of respondents reported friends as their primary means of transportation. Only 1% of respondents used taxis as their primary means of transportation. 3% did not answer.

Most of respondents (84%) believed that their transportation needs were met (40% very well and 44% somewhat). Still, 12% of respondents reported that their transportation needs were “not met very well” (11%) or “not met at all” (1%).  4% did not answer.

Communication and Information

The most preferred method of communication is through computer, reported by 58% of respondents. Large print ranked as the second preferred information format for communication, making up 21%. It is noted that 15% of respondents had no ability to read at the survey time. A small portion (3%) of respondents preferred braille (2%) or cassette tape (1%) as a means of communication.  3% did not answer.

59% of respondents said that necessary support for education was very available (26%) or somewhat available (33%) to assist them in pursuit of education. However, 28% of respondents indicated that support for their education was not available; 12% “not very available” and 16% “not at all available”. A relatively large portion of respondents (13%) did not answer this question.

About eight out of ten respondents (78%) were currently using a computer, laptop or tablet. But still about 19% of respondents were not using a computer, laptop or tablet. 3% did not answer similarly, when it comes to usage of assistive technology, about 77% of respondents use assistive technology. The rest (20%) of respondents do not use assistive technology. 2% did not answer. Among the 129 respondents who use assistive, 28% said they use large print. About 69% of respondents answered “other” to this question. It is found in the “other” responses that respondents used more than one type of assistive technology. (In future study, it might be better to set this question as a multi-choice question.)  2% answered “braille” and 2% did not answer.

Among the 31 respondents who don't use a computer, the most common three reasons for not using a computer included: “don’t know how” (32%), “can’t see the screen” (29%), and “can’t afford one” (23%). About 10% of respondents said that they were not interested in using a computer. 3% of them reported that they can’t type.  3% did not answer.

About three-quarters (75%) of respondents considered that computer skills were very important (68%) or somewhat important (6%) for the job market. However, 16% of respondents said that computer skills were not important at all for job market.  7% did not answer.

Less than one-fifth (17%) of respondents thought that there is a need for vocational counseling. Half of respondents (50%) said there is no need for vocational counseling. And 28% of respondents report themselves as not sure whether there is a need for vocational counseling or not. 5% did not answer.

65% of respondents chose the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind (MCB) as the agency that provided them with the most help relating to visual impairment. Also, it is noted that about 11% of respondents said that more than one organization or governmental agency helped them most with issues related to visual impairment. 7% cited Perkins School for the Blind; 4% the Carroll Center for the Blind; 4% MAB Community Services; 1% Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic (Learning Ally); 1% one-step career center; 1% National Braille Press.  6% did not answer.

As part of the comprehensive needs assessment, MCB conducted a focus group at a consumer conference in 2017.  The most mentioned needs were orientation and mobility training and promptness of services.