Everyone involved in the blindness community knows that being blind or vision-impaired is expensive for individuals, families and society – in actual costs, time costs and opportunity costs.

But determining the cost of blindness is like asking how long a piece of string is. No-one anywhere in the world has come up with the perfect, undisputed research on the cost of blindness. It is just too complex.

Against that backdrop, we are delighted to make public the most comprehensive research ever done in New Zealand on the Cost of Blindness. This research was conducted by Gravitas Research and Strategy Ltd and Market Economics Ltd. Further analysis was done by Dr Jonathan Godfrey, Lecturer in Statistics, Massey University, and graduate student Deborah Brunning. Both reports are available on our website and in accessible formats through our library.

As I mentioned above, no research on the cost of blindness is perfect. Budget constraints meant our research included interviews with 200 of our approximately 11,500 members. Because of this relatively small sampling, care must be taken in "over-interpreting" the results, or extrapolating them onto other groups. Total figures in the "Gravitas" report cannot be used to derive a meaningful average cost per individual blind person - the range of actual incurred costs is simply too wide. Finally, the Gravitas research focuses on actual costs of blindness, not opportunity costs.

The RNZFB and the Association of Blind Citizens (NZ) Inc will use this ground-breaking research to inform Government and other stakeholders. It is our fervent hope that others build on this research over time, so that the world can improve its understanding of the myriad and enormous costs of the unique disability that is blindness.

Paula Daye
CEO
Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind

The Cost of Blindness in New Zealand Reports

The Cost of Blindness in New Zealand

Supplementary Analysis of the Cost of Blindness in New Zealand

You can also find a condensed version of the Cost of Blindness report in the 2006 Autumn Outlook.