Accessibility of health information for blind and partially sighted people

This report presents an analysis of the quantitative and qualitative data collected from research carried out for RNIB Scotland into the accessibility of health information for blind and partially sighted people.

‘Accessible formats’ refers to the different ways that information is published so that it is accessible to blind and partially sighted people eg braille and audio. ‘Health information’ refers to the many different types of information relating to health or health care, be it personal or general. ‘Personal health information’ refers to information which is confidential or particular to a patient eg diagnosis, appointments, hospital procedures, test results, medication, etc while ‘general health information’ refers to more general patient information.

RNIB has previously undertaken a number of surveys and has published reports on the accessibility of health information. Prior to the Disability Discrimination Act of 2005 it was reported that the needs of blind and partially sighted people were not being met (RNIB, 1998). A UK-wide survey of 600 blind and partially sighted people carried out in 2009 found that whilst the vast majority knew that they had a right to receive information in an accessible format. 72 per cent of those surveyed could not read the heath information that they were provided with (Sibley, 2009). However 89 per cent of the sample of respondents for that survey was drawn from England. The survey concluded that due to the small number of respondents from Scotland it was not possible to make robust conclusions about the situation in Scotland. Given that health care is a devolved matter to the Scottish Government, and that the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 operates within a legal system distinct from that of the rest of the UK, it was determined that there was a need to develop a more accurate picture of the accessibility of information needs of blind and partially sighted people living in Scotland.