What Marketers Should Know About People with Disabilities

By Kipp Cheng
April 18, 2002
Copyright © 2002 DiversityInc.com Reproduced with permission, further reproduction is prohibited.

What often-ignored market segment is 54 million people strong, maintains an aggregate income that now exceeds $1 trillion and boasts $220 billion in discretionary spending power? The group is comprised of people of all ethnic backgrounds, cultures and ages, and represents the largest minority subgroup in the United States.

It's people with disabilities, rarely the focus of major marketers. "Disability is an uncomfortable topic for people," said Carmen Jones, president of The Solutions Marketing Group (SMG), an Arlington, Va.-based marketing-consulting firm that helps companies target consumers with disabilities. "People like to push it aside. But once you start answering their questions, people will say, 'You helped me understand things better.' And that's the first step."

For companies considering reaching out to people with disabilities, the facts speak for themselves: According to the U.S. Census Bureau, between 1990 and 2000, the number of Americans with disabilities increased 25 percent, outpacing any other subgroup of the U.S. population. Of the nearly 70 million families in the United States, more than 20 million families have at least one member with a disability. And marketing programs aimed at people with disabilities can reach as many as four out of every 10 consumers.

Additionally, according to research conducted in 2000 by Harris Interactive, on behalf of the National Organization on Disability and Aetna U.S. Healthcare, four out of 10 people with disabilities are online and spend twice the time logged on than their non-disabled counterparts. Jones said while there is no specific data indicating the distribution of people with disabilities in this country, there is a higher concentration of people with disabilities in urban areas -- where the infrastructure for public transportation is more widespread -- as well as in some cities, where people with hearing impairment, for example, tend to live. Denver is an example of a city that has a high population of people with mobility impairment, Jones added.

New, Untapped Revenue
The popular perception that most people with disabilities rarely leave their homes is untrue, Jones said. According to research conducted by the SMG, people with disabilities spent more than $81 billion on travel in 1995. This figure excludes the expenditure of their families, friends and escorts. The data highlights an opportunity for travel-services companies, still reeling from Sept. 11 fallout, to reach out to a new market and address an underserved consumer base.

Another example of companies that have been slow to address people with disabilities is the food-service industry. At a recent focus group of people with disabilities held by the SMG, participants reported to eating out between two and 30 times a month.

"It was an eye-opening finding for all of us," Jones said.

The process of educating companies about the market of people with disabilities, though, is ongoing. Jones said companies should promote that they are complying with the U.S. Americans with Disabilities (ADA) law, even if the compliance is mandated by the government. By publicizing that a company supports accessibility to all people, regardless of their physical abilities, the message consumers perceive is that the subgroup of people with disabilities are welcomed and that the company is a friendly, caring organization.

According to a report from the General Accounting Office, since the implementation of the access provisions of the ADA 10 years ago, the hotel and hospitality industry has experienced a 12 percent increase in revenue, attributable, in part, to consumers with disabilities.

Jones added that companies that have been insensitive to workers and consumers with disabilities in the past should be especially vigilant about establishing programs that support people with disabilities because they are under closer scrutiny by the public than companies that have a track record of support.

"If there are vulnerabilities within a corporation, if there have been any lawsuits, people need to be aware of that, and [the company] needs to try to right that wrong and understand the nature of the offense," Jones said.

Developing Programs
"How I advise clients is to think about their marketing efforts in two phases," Jones said. "First, targeting the 'mainstream' disabled market, which captures the most people. Then they should go after specific niches within the market."

Jones said it's vital for companies to assess whether their marketing message is telling the proper story about a commitment to reaching people with disabilities. Typically, Jones added, expressing the specific needs for assistance in service industries is different from consumer packaged goods, which do not necessarily require a distinct message between the general market and the people-with-disabilities market.

"You don't need Braille on the side of a cereal box to reach the visually impaired," Jones said.

What's more important than accommodating message delivery is articulating the unique selling propositions of a product or service for a niche market that's very different from the market as a whole.

People with hearing impairments, for example, do not view themselves in the same way as other people with disabilities, Jones said. "It's a delicate balancing act of understanding the culture of each subgroup or niche, and working doggedly to be all encompassing [in a marketing effort.] A marketer doesn't want to do anything that would jeopardize a company's credibility." Jones cited Nike as an example of a company that blundered in a marketing effort, which featured language that was insensitive about people with mobility impairment. After Nike came under fire, the athletic-shoe and apparel maker made an apology that was viewed as patronizing, which exacerbated the problem.

"[Nike] will do what's politically correct, of course, especially since [golfer] Casey Martin is a Nike endorsed athlete," said Jones. (Martin has Klippel-Trenaunay-Webber Syndrome, a rare circulatory disorder that has made his right leg extremely weak.)

Jones said developing marketing communications programs aimed at people with disabilities is not simply "putting a person with a wheelchair in the background of a commercial. It's a larger commitment. It starts with the leadership and trickles down. Someone from the marketing department can't execute a project without support from the top."

Additionally, marketers need to be creative when thinking about marketing plans. "Don't only use the obvious ways to reach people with disabilities," Jones said. "The disability publications don't have a wide enough reach." Instead, marketers should develop campaigns that integrate a message that includes people with disabilities.

"Corporations haven't yet made the connection between the [disability] market and profit. They still think of people with disabilities as a charity," Jones said. "It's OK to write a check, that's cool. But let's make a communication bridge that's built on more than just dollars."