Stimulating Industry

This Report was expressly designed to capture a wide range of both product information and consumer experiences.  It is a qualitative study, not to be used to draw quantitative conclusions about the “disability market segment”. 

Due to the methods of recruiting respondents and the issues covered in the surveys, we received a much higher response rate from advocates and “inner circle” members of disability organizations.  These individuals are reasonably assumed to be both more severely disabled and more concerned with accessibility issues than other people with disabilities.  Similarly, our respondents included a higher percentage of people with hearing loss or visual impairment than would have been found in a representative sample.

However, it is important to develop a better quantitative and qualitative understanding of this market segment, for at least two reasons.  First, companies are more and more market-driven, taking their direction from an understanding of who their potential customers are and what they may want.  They design products and market them so as to attract the largest possible clientele.  In order to be successful, their accessibility efforts will be driven by both regulatory concerns and market attractiveness.  A market argument for each product a company makes can emphasize the market advantages of accessibility features for customers with and without disabilities.

Second, companies can do a better job reaching consumers with disabilities than they are currently doing.  As some of the comments showed, some consumers with disabilities are unnecessarily pessimistic about the accessibility of certain products.  From the perspectives of marketing, public relations, and customer relations, companies will realize benefits if they seek out the appropriate advertising channels and sales channels to reach these customers. 

A1. Encourage Pre-Competitive Market Studies

Companies should be encouraged to quantify the disability market through their individual efforts, shared with others, and through cooperative or consortium studies funded by and disseminated through industry associations or ad hoc groups of companies.  These studies should be designed to refine the market analysis rather than duplicate previous findings.

 A2.  Assist Market Research Through Federal Disability Statistics Programs

The federal government already collects information about people with disabilities through several programs.  However, these studies do not focus on people with disabilities primarily as consumers.  The information gathered has some market research value, but this could be enhanced without jeopardizing the other goals of the programs.  These programs should be approached to see where and how they could collect, report on, and disseminate market research information on consumers with disabilities.    It is essential that new studies intended to help with market research focus on functional limitations rather than medical conditions.