Before she gives up on the job she has, she should see a low vision specialist or vocational rehab/local office for the blind. They can help her determine what sorts of accommodations she needs and work with her employer to make sure she gets them. Without knowing the details her job, from an outside perspective, this seems like something that she may well be able to continue doing with the right accommodations.

Personally, I'm a software engineer.

I’m a massage therapist. When I started going blind I decided to find a job that didn’t require vision. I’ve always been a people person and I tend to have a caring nature so it was a good fit. Been doing it almost 3 years now, I’m not 100% blind but I’ve met several massage therapists that are completely blind and we all do fairly well.

Technically I collect disability but I also do some freelance programming and tutoring for blind kids trying to learn Japanese, French or English

I’ll get a real job when I don’t have to visit a doctor three days a week lol

I'm a researcher. Before that I was a translator, and before that I was a teacher.

The legally blind members of my family are: a solicitor, a probation officer, a PhD student and one works doing customer service in a call-centre.

If your wife figures out which accommodations she needs and can be clear and direct with an employer about that, then really the only jobs that are off limits are things like being a surgeon or a bus driver.

I'm in the financial industry as a teller/digital advisor/receptionist/detective. I am also slowly trying to break into the world of vvoice acting. Honestly, if there are resources to get her technology to help her, that would be highly benificial. Tons of blind people can work. They just aren't always given the resources to do so.

If you can find an organizations such as the national Federation of the blind in your local area and get her around other blind people I think that would help as well. I am an accessibility testing specialist for the United States Forest Service. What that basically means in English is I make sure that any electronic documents websites etc. are accessible using my screen reader. I agree with the other comments above that she needs to definitely get the technology training and other things that can help her be successful. And if her job is willing to pay for the technology than that is a definite plus.

Disclaimer, I'm sighted but my husband is going blind, so I lurk around here every so often. So I can't say this is necessarily good advice but... would she be interested in doing voice work? I'm not sure it would be realistic, but if there was some way to get scripts in braille (or even novels and/or children's books, my mom makes a little here and there by recording children's audio books), maybe that could be an avenue to explore? Best of luck to you guys.

Someone said "tons of blind people can work." My attitude is that just being blind should not on its own affect anyone at all being able to work. Now, a lot of blind people are not very young or have other problems too, and that's a factor, but on its own? I don't want to write off the challenges but there's a job for everyone and nobody should doubt that for a second.

That said I am probably not a helpful example. I'm a musician, which is of course blind person career number one. I am also involved in running an agency for guitarists and I make a percentage of my income renting out equipment by consigning it to studios (that is, it sits on their shelf and if someone uses it, I get paid and they take a cut.) If that seems weirdly specific it is, and it is just a result of me trying to use the opportunities that came my way.

What's more important than any of that is that I am self employed. To some extent that makes it unreliable. I don't have to be fired, they just stop calling me. On the other hand it also means that I have a lot more opportunity to negotiate for the things I need, which generally isn't much. In the end it means that I take the jobs I can do. This means, for instance, that I turn down a really depressing amount of work because I can't read music, but that's life.

Between taking the opportunities you can get, and taking the jobs you can do, in the end you don't get much choice about what you end up doing. The thing is, and the really liberating thing is, that is the same for everyone. I know lots of (sighted) people who I see as very successful and people to emulate, but over a drink in the evening they often start griping about the fact that they wanted to be doing something a bit different. Obviously you can push for things but life has a way of taking you down unexpected roads and sometimes it's a good idea to go with the flow.

Sorry if this is a giant ramble but in the end I only have one bit of concrete advice. Get over the hesitancy on assistive tech. Do I like having to walk around with a cane which basically puts a giant neon sign above my head with an arrow, reading "look at the cripple everyone." No, I don't. I never will. I wasn't born to this and I don't have to like it. But is it worth it? Hell yes.

I work for an ivy league university in IT. I've had several different jobs at my university ranging from student support, information security, and my latest gig in the client services group. Has she spoken to her HR group in her company to see if there are any accommodations available to her? That might mean technology like a larger monitor or using a screen reader. Check to see what your state might have available for disability services like mobility training. She should be covered by the ADA but if she is unsure or thinks that asking about accommodations might jeopardize her job you might want to consult a lawyer specializing in disability law to make sure she asks for assistance in the best way to protect her and her rights. I wish you both well. Employment is challenging for those of us with visual impairments but it can and does happen.

Vocational rehab can help with accommodations and retraining. Legal blindness meets a disability listing for Social Security benefits. I say that because if she is approved for benefits, she can use the a Ticket to Work program to help with retraining.

I'm an editor, but yeah, I second everyone's recommendations to talk to a rehab specialist or someone from your local commission from the blind. The one hour I spent with a specialist (who taught me how to optimize my phone and laptop and showed me all the accessibility options) was incredibly helpful.

Hi, before she gets fired or quits I recommend for her to go to a rehab training center. It sounds as if the employer she has would be willing to provide what she needs, and this is fantastic. She needs time to go to a training center and obtain the skills she needs. I don’t know where you are, but in Texas the Texas Workforce Solution agency can help through this process, they communicate with the employer, they get the individual permission to go train for a few months, with the understanding that she’ll return with the skills needed to continue working in her position.
For work I provide this kind of assistance.

Does she already have accommodations at work? If she does and still can’t keep up, then she might have to find another position in the company or change careers. Some times things like this open doors to other opportunities.