By: Brandon M. Macsata, General Consultant
National Business & Disability Council (NBDC) at The Viscardi Center
Marketing Anthropology Project (MAP) Blog
Ever wonder why travelers with disabilities fly one airline, or stay at a particular hotel chain, over all of the others available to them? Or what would drive disabled consumers to be so loyal toward a cellular carrier, financial institution or brand of spirits? Of equal importance is how accessible technologies are increasingly driving the spending habits of this emerging market in nearly all aspects of our economy – as well as globally.
Wall Street and Main Street are both being re-defined by technology. The potential for our emerging “digital economy” is endless, if that technology is made more accessible. Consider this: CTIA recently reported that the mobile data traffic more than doubled between 2013 and 2014! We know that people with disabilities are yearning to leverage accessible technologies in their everyday lives.¹
The business case for marketing to consumers with disabilities was made even more evident by the recent national public opinion survey commissioned by the National Business & Disability Council (NBDC) at The Viscardi Center. Cygnal conducted the telephone survey on May 4-8, 2015.²
Businesses are increasingly taking note, too. Ever heard of a real estate company training its sales agents on becoming disability culturally competent? Well, it is happening. Would it be great to witness disabled fashion models walking the catwalk? It happened, already! What if ATMs could communicate with banking customers with visual-impairments? That’s so 2012! These examples represent the tip of the iceberg.
Why?
The 54 million Americans with disabilities represent the third largest market segment (behind only Baby Boomers and the mature market),³ and globally it is the size of China.⁴ Businesses are learning that they cannot afford to ignore consumers with disabilities, or they risk being marginalized in the marketplace.
In response to these questions, and many others, NBDC is hosting an informative one-day summit in New York City on November 9th. The Intersection between Disability Marketing & Accessible ICT is designed to assemble marketing professionals, technology professionals and accessibility professionals to better understand how all facets of marketing strategies and information & communication technology (ICT) can be accessible to people with disabilities.
To learn more, or to register, please visit https://www.123signup.com/event?id=pqbbr.
Disclaimer: The content of the MAP Blog does not serve as an endorsement of any commercial product or service, but rather an outlet to share information and opinions about the emerging disability consumer market.
¹ Kemp, John D., and Brandon M. Macsata, The Hill, “Communication technology opens 'doors' for everyone, not only people with disabilities,” October 13, 2014; last viewed at http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/
technology/220415-communication-technology-opens-doors-for-everyone-not-only.
² National Business & Disability Council (NBDC) at The Viscardi Center, “A Clear Message from Consumers to Businesses: Don’t Overlook Disability,” August 19, 2015; last viewed at http://www.viscardicenter.org/
resources/blog/clear-message.html.
³ U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Disability Policy, “Business Sense: A Positive Strategy for Expanding Market Share,” 2015; last viewed at: http://www.dol.gov/odep/BusinessSense/2009/bsense0509.htm.
⁴ Fifth Quadrant Analytics, The Return on Disability® Company, “The Global Economics of Disability; Annual Report,” April 2013.