聯合國自一九八０年代至今，不斷提倡身心障礙者「平等且全面參與社會」的權利之保障，而「個人協助」服務的提供，乃該權利是否能獲得充分保障的關鍵因素。身心障礙者所需要的「個人協助」是多面向的，涉及社會生活的各個層面，包括生活、教育、就業等等方面。然而，目前為止，臺灣雖已發展居家服務與臨時暨短期照顧等「照顧式的」服務，卻缺乏工作中的「個人協助」服務。有鑑於此，財團法人愛盲文教基金會參考西方「個人協助」的概念，於九十一與九十二年度，發展「視力協助員」服務，企圖滿足視障者在工作中的協助需求。 本研究的目的，在於了解該實驗方案對於使用服務的視障者之意義與滿足需求情形，及方案工作人員與視協員的看法，採取質性研究的文件分析與深度訪談方法蒐集資料。研究發現：視協員服務使視障者對於工作有較多的掌控、使視障者無須被迫依賴非正式支持系統，然而，在服務提供上卻有較小的掌控力，此外，在服務面向的設定、方案管理監督、雇主的宣導與職務再設計的強化等等方面仍有許多待改進之處。

Since 1980s, the United Nations has been advocating for the ‘full participation and equality’ of disabled people. ‘Personal Assistance’ is one key factor in bringing the idea of guaranteeing disabled people’s rights into practice. Disabled people’s needs for personal assistance are multi-dimensional, which include: daily life, education, employment, etc.. In Taiwan, however, there are services provided to ‘care for’ disabled people but not to support disabled people at work. In view of this, The Cultural and Educational Foundation for the Blind (CEFB) developed a pilot scheme which provided ‘visual assistant service’ for visually impaired persons. The aim of this study is to understand how visually impaired users experienced the service and how the service met the needs, as well as the views of the project workers and visual assistants. The main findings are: First, the ‘visual assistant service’ has improved visually impaired workers’ sense of control at work, and reduced their enforced reliance on their informal support systems. Nevertheless, they have little control over the way the services were provided. In addition, the author suggests some points to improve in the future, regarding the dimensions of services provided, the monitor of the program, enhanced communication with employers and more efforts on job accommodation.