Brad, considdering such issues is actually what my phd thesis on disability is about,  I'm very happy to discuss these sorts of questions, and indeed asked them myself when I an recieving dla, (that's disability living allowence to anyone outside the uk).

To begin with, yes, there are financial costs to having a visual imparement, money for canes, access tech etc. The british govenment has a responsability to it's people to see that people A, get equal opportunities and b, do not have to live in really reduced circumstances and abnormal amounts of suffering.

For these reasons, it's reasonable to see how paying for a screen reader for instance on dla is logical. all citizens of the country can read, visually impared people need tech to be able to read.

there is however another element that makes a lot more difference, namely effort!

For a sighted person to run down to the local shops and buy something requires litle to no expended effort, no thinkng about routes, no remembering landmarks, no worries if the pavement structure has changed.

I bet brad after navigating areas your unfamiliar with you feel tired just from concentrating?

Well that's not what sighted people do at all, and thus your unequal as regards effort. That is the reason for the mobility stuff like taxi cards, sinse on average a blind person will have far more taxies, simply because it takes considderably more time and effort to get places. then there is of course the lack of a car to take into account.

finally there's another point, having a job. only 15 percent of blind people are employed, and I'd be willing to bet half of those are employed by blind only organizations.

getting a job is near impossible, my brother cent out 100 cv's a month for eleven years. Then there is the fact that even if you have a job, odds are if you work 9-5 the effort required to do mobility etc will mean you can do pretty much nothing else, no learning routes, going out or whatever.

Finally, there is the social aspect. If a blind person walks into any group, they're treated as an outsider, at least in Britain, and being accepted, while possible takes a lot of work.

All this adds up to more effort and hassle.

So, dla is compensation for all of these things, as well as allowing you to have a reasonable life equal to most other people.

That being said, to simply be selfish and sit on dla doing nothing for anyone else, giving none of your time to others in society would I think be wrong, ---- albeit that the country doesn't recognize this.

This is why I'm currently working on a phd thesis in philosophy, and indeed working for this website in my spare time, rather than just sitting on my bumb playing games all day.

When my thesis is done, I'll be applying to be a voluntary majestrate, giving my time to help in miner criminal cases.

this is I think the important thing really brad, recognizing that the Dla is a compensation for what you personally don't have, and trying to give something back.

If I could change the system, I'd suggest people only got Dla if they did something else useful at some point with their time, even if they can't actually be employed in a job, and certainly not in a ful time job.

so my advice is, take the dla, and be glad of it, and use it to get the most out of life, but also find a way to give something back to those around you, whether that's voluntary work, doing something creative or whatever.

Hmm. I think you should give to charity. It's your money so you can do what you want with it. within reason

Giving to charity wasnt' really what I meant brad.

The government could just give the money to charity anyway, and you at least do need the money to live and do what you do. What I meant was give your time and any skills you have so that your not just getting the money for nothing.

for instance, a friend of mine who is not visually impared but has another disability did a degree in computer science. After finding she couldn't get a job due to her condition, she now spends two afternoons a week working for a charity who provide technical training and support to people with a range of disabilities, ---- indeed I went down to stay with her in July and do a presentation about Hal for them.

This is the sort of thing I mean, locate some voluntary worth while activity to do so that your not just taking the money without justification.

About jobs, I'm afraid the reality is quite hard.

In england, while it is against the law to refuse to employ someone because they have a disability, it's not against the law to make up an excuse.

for instance my brother was once told "you are under qualified" for a job that required two A levels where he was applying with a law degree and legal practice certificate.

getting a job is therefore extremely difficult, especially at the moment where perfectly able boddied people with many qualifications are unemployed as well more often than not.

I'd therefore advise you to find something worth while to do, rather than worry about paid employment.

Then, there is of course the effort factor, sinse if you were doing a job five days a week, odds are you probably wouldn't be able to do anything else anyway, so even if you did! find a job, you'd probably have to have a part time one anyway.

As regards freedom passes and such, well the logic is very simple here. sinse mobility is more effort, and sinse a blind person can't have a car, blind people spend a lot more on public transport, hence why the cost is reduced.

up until recently because my own university singing group wouldn't have a vi singer on stage, I had to go to another uni.

This was an hour's journey, and hidiously complicated in terms of mobility with a train, the metro and quite a long walk.

there was no train back afterwards, and anyway I was usually so tired at that point I'd want a taxi, which unfortunately cost 25 quid, but was quite a necessity at that stage, both because I couldn't perform at my own uni through disability reasons, and because the mobility was simply so much extra work.

Frankly, for that situation I'd have loved! a freedom pass, sinse that was a situation and expensed caused directly by my visual imparement.

Hope this makes sense.