CPL ground exams are comparitively cheap financially compared to flying hours, but in terms of time and effort they are a totally different matter. You can pick up a distance learning course for around £2k and it will take at least 6-8 months of dedicated study to prepare.
A lot of work for not an enormous amount of return.
I think the rules are now such as to make it so difficult and costly that only CPL's/ATPL's will be FI's. A very short sighted decision in my view. Maybe it was done to try and force up the wages of FI's? I don't know but eventually it may work.
Helicopter instructors whether CPL or PPL have always been paid and this is reflected in the much better wages they recieve (typically £30/hr+) but the cost per/hr of an R22 is nearly double that of a C152, so you get less people flying them.
It is a shame that the old BCPL route has disappeared. I know many fine instructors who still teach on a BCPL and the crucial difference is that they get paid the same as everybody else.
I don't think there will ever become a time when we have unpaid PPL instructors again, but if there does become a shortage of FI's some other solution will have to be found, don't hold your breath though!
A good suggestion from TheDream, I'm sure you would be able to get an FAA medical, and you never know Cash And Aggro may one day adopt the ICAO rule of "if your eyesight can be corrected that's good enough for me!"
I can empathise with your position as I just about scraped my initial Class 1 on eyesight. Had me sweating for a bit I'll tell you!!
Apologies to obs cop for slightly(!) hijacking your thread.
Obs from my experience part-timers don't get treated any differently by other instructors.