Abstract

The impacts of vocational rehabilitation on the economic empowerment of people with visual impairment in Cameroon’s North and southwest regions were explored in this study.The primary goal of the study was to examine if vocational rehabilitation had an impact on the economic empowerment of people with vision impairment.Career choice, self-concept, vocational advice, and early intervention were the indicators studied. For this investigation, a descriptive survey design was employed.A total of 46 people were employed in the study, including 42 people with visual impairment who have sheltered workshops and four (4) directors from four different vocational institutes.The purposive and snowball sampling approaches were used in this investigation. The instruments used for this study were a questionnaire and an interview guide for directors of the various vocational centers.The data was analyzed using frequency counts, percentages, multiple set replies, and the thematic analysis approach, which was mostly utilized to examine responses to open-ended questions.Career choice (r=0.3005, p=0.019), self-concept (r=0.415, p=0.006), vocational advice (r=0.295, p=0.026), and early intervention (r=0.387, p=0.013) were found to have a substantial and beneficial impact on the economic empowerment of people with visual impairment.As a result, it was suggested that the government establish additional rehabilitation institutions and equip them with vocational counselors, as well as provide avenues for Community Based Rehabilitation.It was also suggested that families and institutions enable people with visual impairments to join in vocational rehabilitation programs early and determine their own career choices.