It varies a lot from country to country, and from blind person to blind person (almost as if the blind were people!). For people who become blind later in life, usually they need a period of rehabilitation and learning, to acquaint them with the tools they can use: Braille, cane navigation, screen readers, etc. After that it depends a lot.

Some countries have fairly generous disability assistance, some don't. In some places blind people can access specific employment programmes. For example in Spain there is an organisation for the blind which sells lottery tickets and used to have a semi-monopoly, and it employed most blind people in the country. In the US I hear there's some sort of support for self-employment.

I survive financially by having got a place in the civil service. I know blind people who do all sorts of things: psychology, physiotherapy, system administration, programming, etc. It's still hard for blind people to get hired though, since employers are often afraid or concerned they won't be able to do the work.

I used to work at the city bus company. I even lived off my own income for a while, but a pay cut among other things forced me back with my parents. Saved a ton of extra money thanks to not having many bills, and eventually went back to school to learn IT. Now I work at the school as a lab coordinator.

A big problem I see in the blind community is what I call the blindness employment ghetto. Most blind people who have jobs work for organizations that help the blind, as I did with the city bus company. We're really only going to improve the standing of blind people if we get out there into areas that aren't used to having blind people and show the world we can do it, too. It's an uphill battle, though, both because potential employers are reluctant to hire blind people, and because many blind people seem content to stay at home.

My husband went blind at age 22. He was a bartender and then he wasn’t. He went to a training center similar to the one you live near. He learned how to travel with a cane; how to cook, clean, fix things, and keep house using non-visual skills; how to use a computer with a screen reader; Braille; some job and organization skills; and he even learned wood shop skills using non-visual techniques and made a beautiful table that we keep in our home now. He’s now working again and has fully adjusted to blindness. It’s been 15 years since he lost his sight. That training center gave him back his independence so that going blind didn’t have to be the end of his life.

My wife started going blind about 3 or 4 years ago and could no longer work at her job. She pretty much went on disability which wasn't much but she kept a roof over her head and food on the table. She was offered training in use of her blind cane, braille, and received some specialty items like gloves to protect her hands when cutting food. We had started dating when she was going through this.

She still gets disability, but I'm the main earner in our household. Disability doesn't go far. Her job opportunities are bleak. Others on here have talked about blind relatives who had professional jobs. My wife had worked supervising group homes and working with people with disabilities. The only job the people helping her train had to offer was working with her former disabled clients folding towels and such. She just can't do that. She would find it humiliating to work next to the people she used to supervise that have severe learning and mental disabilities.

You really need to check out Tommy Edison

I learned so much about blindness through his light-hearted and funny videos.

https://www.youtube.com/user/TommyEdisonXP

I live in Portugal and earn a disability pension that's a little over 50% of the average of my last 10 years of salary, which is enough for me since I don't have to pay rent, plus it's about to be supplemented by another pension that everyone with a disability score of at least 80% can earn (total blindness has a disability score of 95% here).

They may be eligible for disability benefits. It depends on if they work full time and how much they earn. Call the center and request a tour. Most centers provide frequent tours to increase awareness and understanding.

I wish I had a better answer but not much better here in Texas. Many of my clients are discouraged looking for work and there doesn’t seem to be anyone with the knowledge on how to speak to employers. Government agencies seem to just be going through the motions. It all comes down to the individual’s persistence.