AI exposure: Low Vision Therapists, Orientation and Mobility Specialists, and Vision Rehabilitation Therapists
Provide therapy to patients with visual impairments to improve their functioning in daily life activities. May train patients in activities such as computer use, communication skills, or home management skills.
Reading this score
computedAt 16.1% of weighted task load, Low Vision Therapists, Orientation and Mobility Specialists, and Vision Rehabilitation Therapists sits at the 26th percentile, below the point where a job's centre of gravity has moved. 56.5% of what this role does is untouched, meaning current systems cannot produce that work at all, whatever the commercial incentive.
What holds the line here is verification cost. Across this occupation's 21 tasks it averages 2.52 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, checking the output costs more than producing it. Where an undetected error is expensive, dangerous or irreversible, the economics change. Someone has to verify the work, and verifying can cost as much as doing it. This is the friction most likely to fall as tools for checking improve.
The most exposed thing this job does is Design instructional programs to improve communication, at 60.0%. The least is Obtain, distribute, or maintain low vision devices, at 0.0%. A gap of 60.0% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.
Within healthcare practitioner and technical occupations, this one is less exposed than the median of 18.5% across the group's 89 roles, with 59 scoring higher. Being in an exposed family does not make a particular job exposed, and the reverse holds too.
What would move this score. Of 21 tasks, 4 are currently banded exposed, 7 assisted and 10 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take a change in who is permitted to sign the work, which is a question for regulators rather than for engineers. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.
Where the score comes from
judgedEvery task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.
| Dimension | Mean | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | 1.79 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 1.38 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 2.05 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 2.24 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.98 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 2.52 | 0-3 |
Task by task
21 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Design instructional programs to improve communication, using devices such as slates and styluses, braillers, keyboards, adaptive handwriting devices, talking book machines, digital books, and optical character readers (OCRs). | 60.0% | 40.0% | 0.0% | 4.06 | exposed |
| Write reports or complete forms to document assessments, training, progress, or follow-up outcomes. | 53.3% | 46.7% | 0.0% | 4.43 | exposed |
| Participate in professional development activities, such as reading literature, continuing education, attending conferences, and collaborating with colleagues. | 30.0% | 20.0% | 50.0% | 3.96 | exposed |
| Administer tests and interpret test results to develop rehabilitation plans for clients. | 30.0% | 45.0% | 25.0% | 3.79 | assisted |
| Develop rehabilitation or instructional plans collaboratively with clients, based on results of assessments, needs, and goals. | 26.7% | 23.3% | 50.0% | 4.45 | exposed |
| Recommend appropriate mobility devices or systems, such as human guides, dog guides, long canes, electronic travel aids (ETAs), and other adaptive mobility devices (AMDs). | 20.0% | 30.0% | 50.0% | 4.67 | assisted |
| Identify visual impairments related to basic life skills in areas such as self care, literacy, communication, health management, home management, and meal preparation. | 20.0% | 55.0% | 25.0% | 4.11 | assisted |
| Refer clients to services, such as eye care, health care, rehabilitation, and counseling, to enhance visual and life functioning or when condition exceeds scope of practice. | 16.7% | 33.3% | 50.0% | 3.57 | assisted |
| Teach self-advocacy skills to clients. | 13.8% | 23.8% | 62.5% | 4.22 | untouched |
| Monitor clients' progress to determine whether changes in rehabilitation plans are needed. | 13.3% | 36.7% | 50.0% | 4.14 | assisted |
| Collaborate with specialists, such as rehabilitation counselors, speech pathologists, and occupational therapists, to provide client solutions. | 13.3% | 36.7% | 50.0% | 3.78 | assisted |
| Assess clients' functioning in areas such as vision, orientation and mobility skills, social and emotional issues, cognition, physical abilities, and personal goals. | 10.0% | 40.0% | 50.0% | 4.32 | assisted |
| Provide consultation, support, or education to groups such as parents and teachers. | 8.3% | 16.7% | 75.0% | 4.22 | untouched |
| Teach cane skills, including cane use with a guide, diagonal techniques, and two-point touches. | 5.0% | 20.0% | 75.0% | 4.70 | untouched |
| Train clients with visual impairments to use mobility devices or systems, such as human guides, dog guides, electronic travel aids (ETAs), and other adaptive mobility devices (AMDs). | 5.0% | 20.0% | 75.0% | 4.55 | untouched |
| Train clients to use tactile, auditory, kinesthetic, olfactory, and proprioceptive information. | 5.0% | 20.0% | 75.0% | 4.43 | untouched |
| Teach clients to travel independently, using a variety of actual or simulated travel situations or exercises. | 5.0% | 20.0% | 75.0% | 4.27 | untouched |
| Teach independent living skills or techniques, such as adaptive eating, medication management, diabetes management, and personal management. | 5.0% | 20.0% | 75.0% | 4.21 | untouched |
| Train clients to use adaptive equipment, such as large print, reading stands, lamps, writing implements, software, and electronic devices. | 5.0% | 20.0% | 75.0% | 4.00 | untouched |
| Train clients to read or write Braille. | 5.0% | 20.0% | 75.0% | 3.73 | untouched |
| Obtain, distribute, or maintain low vision devices. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.87 | untouched |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean.
Occupations either side of this one
The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.
Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.
What this means in practice
Most of this work is not reachable by current systems, so the immediate pressure is on the administrative edges of the role rather than its core: the scheduling, the reporting, the written records. That is where time is recovered.