Ms Jodie McGriele:

Roughly 55,000 people in the last census identified as living with sight loss or blindness. Again, we know that a significant proportion of people do not identify as living with sight loss or blindness so that will be so much higher. When we look at the actual figures from that census - I know we are expecting the new census around employment in November - we can see that the total number of people of working age with visual impairment or blindness in employment was 8,289. The unemployment rate for all people with vision impairment or blindness was 28%, while the unemployment rate for people of working age with vision impairment or blindness was 33%. It is huge. It is 1.8% so blindness and vision impairment is the lowest achieving group in the disability group when it comes to employment and education. Part of that is fear. It is about debunking myths and education. We also be mindful of the barriers in services and infrastructure. Digital access is a human right. Access to information is a human right rather than an accommodation. Unfortunately, we are not there yet.