Introduction College graduates with visual impairments (that is, those who are blind or have low vision) often face challenges in securing competitive employment after graduation. Working with a mentor who is also visually impaired, and working in the same field, can provide important benefits to overcome these barriers. Methods A nationwide longitudinal study, involving random assignment to an intervention group working with a mentor or a comparison group given traditional career resources, evaluated changes in job-seeking self-efficacy, assertiveness in job hunting, and career adaptability over the course of one year as legally blind college students prepared to graduate and enter the job market. Employment outcomes, job satisfaction, and evaluation of the mentoring program were also measured. Results Those working with mentors demonstrated increased job-seeking self-efficacy, career adaptability, and significant gains in assertiveness in job-hunting compared to those receiving only traditional job-search resources. Although no significant differences were found between groups for employment rate or job satisfaction, participants reported high satisfaction with the program. Discussion Working with a mentor demonstrated positive trends for self-efficacy, career adaptability, and significant increases in job-hunting assertiveness among visually impaired college students with legal blindness. Participants were highly committed and found the program beneficial. Small sample size may have limited the ability to detect significant differences in employment outcomes.

Color is an important variable in the graphical communication of weather information. The effect of different colors on understanding and perception is not always considered prior to releasing an image to the public. This study tests the influence of color as well as legend values on the effectiveness of communicating storm surge potential. In this study, 40 individuals participated in an eye-tracking experiment in which they responded to eight questions about five different storm scenarios. Color was varied among three palettes (shades of blue, green to red, and yellow to purple), and legends were varied to display categorical values in feet (<3, 3–6, etc.) or text descriptions (low, medium, etc.). Questions measured accuracy, perceived risk, and perceived helpfulness. Overall, accuracy was high and few statistically significant differences were observed across color/legend combinations. Evidence did suggest that the blue values condition may have been the most difficult to interpret. Statistical support for this claim includes longer response times and a greater number of eye fixations on the legend. The feet values condition also led to a greater number of eye fixations on the legend and letter markers than the category text condition. The green–red condition was the strong preference among all groups as the color condition that best informs the public about storm surge risk. This color palette led to slightly higher levels of accuracy and perceived helpfulness, but the differences were not significant.

Employers' implicit attitudes about the competence of blind people were mostly unrelated to other measures, as expected, with the exception of knowledge and performance ratings of blind employees. These findings provide support for the validity of the IAT-BVI, and indicate the importance of rehabilitation professionals working with employers to provide education about how blind people perform work tasks as a potential avenue to improve employment opportunities for people who are blind. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Introduction Career mentoring can help college graduates with legal blindness to address employment barriers. Data on specific employment outcomes and job search experiences for this population can inform job-seeking strategies for students, mentors, and service providers. Methods A longitudinal study evaluated job-seeking activities and employment outcomes for college students with legal blindness, half of whom were randomly assigned to work with a career mentor who was also legally blind and working in the same field. Students reported job search activities and experiences, and those employed reported job details including position, compensation, and satisfaction. Results Students spent a considerable amount of time job seeking, and reported low interviews-to-applications ratios. Trends indicated that students with mentors spent less time and effort in their job searches. Students identified challenges including job market competition, employer bias, and transportation issues. Students who found employment worked in varied fields, often in professional or skilled positions with competitive salaries. Discussion College students with legal blindness can achieve successful employment in competitive positions, but they may require an effortful job search to address well-known employment barriers for this population. Experienced mentors may provide guidance for a more focused and efficient job search. Implications for practitioners Invested time and effort are aspects of job seeking that students can control. Mentors can assist college students with legal blindness on those aspects, freeing time and resources to deal with systemic challenges such as employer attitudes and competition.

Social problem-solving skills and transportation self-efficacy were assessed for 48 vocational rehabilitation consumers with visual disabilities who required assistance securing work transportation. Social problem solving was at the upper end of the normed average; transportation self-efficacy averaged 101.5 out of 140. Level of vision loss was not associated with score differences; urban residence related to slightly higher self-efficacy than suburban or rural residency. Participants appeared to have the skills necessary to secure employment transportation, but were less confident about transportation-seeking activities that required more initiative of social interaction. Training and information might help consumers gain confidence in these tasks and increase viable transportation options.