Five years ago the US Census data indicated that persons with disabilities aged 15 and older had a total annual discretionary income of $175 billion dollars. Humphry Taylor, chairman of the Harris Poll, said "People with disabilities are not a fat, rich, affluent market" and are extremely diverse in age, ethnicity, and physical condition.
According to Harris Researchers, this target group is substantially different from non-disabled Web surfers. On average, adults with disabilities spend twice as much time on the Internet each week--20 hours--than their non-disabled counterparts. And, that time is all surfing… not e-mailing.
Why are these disabled people online?
- Improved quality of
life: 48% vs. 27 % of adults without disabilities.
- Substantially improved lives: 56% of those aged 65 and older vs. 6% of non-disabled adults.
A market segment worthy of note says the
Poll…
- the number of people with disabilities in the United States is on the rise.. expected to be significant with the release of Census 2000
- the aging of the Baby Boom generation means
that the number of people with disabilities may swell to record numbers in the coming years.
For more information, see www.harrisinteractive.com