Re: Disability statistics

On Fri, 14 Dec 2001, Charles McCathieNevile wrote:

> The US government estimated (I think based on 1999 census information - I
> know there is a reference in these archives somewhere <sigh/>) USD $175
> billion as the annual disposable income of people with disabilities. In
> Australia the term usually means what people have to spend after they have
> paid for rent, basic food, work expenses, i.e. people living on basic Social
> Security Payments generally have almost none, but people with jobs have more.

but what little they have would/could be spent on accessible housing,
accessible food stores, accessible tools/transport/whatever for work.

I seem to recall reading somewhere that most people with disabilities are
living in housing that does not meet their needs (what ever their needs
are)

> There is an argument to be made that not only is this money available, but at
> the moment it is a largely unserved market, and therefore ready to get good
> service.

but part of the problem is "us" we are willing to spend our money at
inaccessible places.  we don't demand access for our $$$

> I believe that ther is research into customer loyalty that shows
> customers with disabilities are more loyal than average customers, but I
> can't remember where I heard it so it could be unreliable.

I know I am fiercely loyal to those that are accessible.

Bob


> 
> cheers
> 
> Charles McCN
> 
> On Fri, 14 Dec 2001, Access Systems wrote:
> 
>   On Sun, 4 Nov 2001, Kynn Bartlett wrote:
> 
>   > At 04:34 AM 11/3/2001 , Joe Clark wrote:
>   > >I was reading the remarks about making a business case for accessibility, which I believe flatly cannot be done. It's purely an issue of ethics or legal compliance.
> 
>   late reply but.
> 
>   I think there is a business case possible.  in fact I found that in the
>   Baltimore Metro Area using only minimum SS payments as the per person
>   income, which is low balling because some will be making more $$$
> 
>   and using that number and census data it was figured that there would be
>   over 7million dollars per month of disposable income by these persons.
> 
>   How much do you (the business) want of that??
> 
>   Bob
> 
>   >
>   > I think you're right; business cases tend to be very weak and actually
>   > avoid the issues of people with disabilities ("cell phones!" "search
>   > engines!") because when you're a minority group, especially one with
>   > limited means AND obstacles to use, statistics are generally speaking
>   > not your friend.
>   >
>   > I've heard statistics used as "oh, huh! I never knew that" supporting
>   > evidence, but I've never seen a web developer or policymaker make a
>   > change just because the numbers are there.  At best, disability
>   > stats are numeric trivia.
>   >
>   > Frankly, I think the argument, "we may end up disabled ourselves and
>   > be unable to use the Internet we're building" has proven more
>   > compelling than any sort numbers we can report.
>   >
>   > --Kynn
>   >
>   >
>   > --
>   > Kynn Bartlett <kynn@reef.com>
>   > Technical Developer Liaison
>   > Reef North America
>   > Accessibility - W3C - Integrator Network
>   > ________________________________________
>   > BUSINESS IS DYNAMIC. TAKE CONTROL.
>   > ________________________________________
>   > http://www.reef.com
>   >
> 
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> 
> 

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Received on Friday, 14 December 2001 23:36:29 UTC