Courting the Consumer

By Roger B. Jones

Until recently, most companies had completely overlooked persons with disabilities in their marketing efforts. Business owners traditionally viewed this segment of the population as a small niche, hardly worth looking at. Consumers with disabilities were relegated to sifting through multitudes of products and services in an attempt to find items relevant to their needs, or else dealing with specialists. The corporate sector continued to ignore persons with disabilities 3/4 despite the fact that there were roughly 860 million persons with disabilities worldwide in 2001, and that the aggregate income of those in the U.S. alone exceeded one trillion U.S. dollars last year. Even governments had generally paid little attention to what is arguably the largest minority group in North America.

This obvious lack of vision is gradually beginning to change, for several reasons.

The United States has just marked the 10th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This sweeping piece of legislation was a direct result of advocacy efforts during the disability civil rights movement. Because of the ADA, American companies are required to conform to comprehensive civil rights protections for persons with disabilities. And they can be prosecuted for noncompliance. Several high-profile cases involving corporate giants like Wal-Mart and AOL have brought consumer advocates to the front pages of mainstream media.

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act is another U.S. law that deals with technology and telecommunications and provides for reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities. The Assistive Technology Act of 1998 was designed to "support programs of grants to states to address the Assistive Technology needs of individuals, and for other purposes."

Canadian companies wanting to do business south of the border are required to comply with the U.S. regulations. Adapting to accessibility requirements will be especially important for any firms dealing with government or large businesses.

Although not as wide-ranging in scope as the American examples, Canada does have employment equity legislation and human rights laws. The Employment Equity Act was crafted to address the disparities between the labour force experiences of persons with disabilities, Aboriginal people, women and members of visible minorities and the experiences of other working-age individuals. The law was passed to ensure that no one is denied employment opportunities and benefits for reasons unrelated to ability.

Our Canadian Human Rights Act states that "all individuals should have an opportunity equal with other individuals to make for themselves the lives that they are able and wish to have and to have their needs accommodated, consistent with their duties and obligations as members of society, without being hindered in or prevented from doing so by discriminatory practices based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, family status, disability or conviction for an offence for which a pardon has been granted."

While our Canadian legal system does attempt to deal with disability and access issues, it is nowhere near as comprehensive as U.S. law. Several organizations across the country have advocated for new legislation. Proponents of the Ontarians with Disabilities Act (ODA) are convinced that our laws "have not been successful at effectively rooting out old barriers impeding persons with disabilities and preventing the erection of new barriers," according to the ODA Committee.

Australia as well as the United Kingdom and other European countries are scrambling to enact new disability-specific laws, and the rest of the world is starting to investigate legal avenues as well.

However, even though laws are extremely important, we cannot legislate attitudes. With enough effort, money and good lawyers, corporations can exploit loopholes in any law or tie up cases in litigation. What really needs to happen is for the business world to begin viewing persons with disabilities in a different light. Legislation can certainly be a catalyst, but the "coming out" of persons with disabilities will play a big role as well.

Many of us have already begun to insist on our independence and are participating and interacting with the rest of society. We are no longer content to stay confined to our homes or institutions. Suddenly, the estimated one-fifth of the population who has a disability is becoming more visible 3/4 and companies have started paying attention.

One of the first companies to recognize what I like to refer to as the "ability market" was Microsoft Corporation. In an interview with Business Week, Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer said, "Enabling accessible technology is a growth opportunity, it meets customer needs, and it is the right thing to do." He went on to say that one of the advantages of designing accessible products is that it leads to better products overall. "Accessible design is good design 3/4 it benefits people who don’t have disabilities as well as people who do." I can attest to the usefulness of the Accessibility components within Microsoft products. For example, the software allows me to press multiple keys, like Control-Alt-Delete, which would otherwise be impossible. Other technology companies putting more focus on persons with disabilities include IBM, Cisco, Compaq and Dell.

"We have employees with disabilities, and we have customers with employees with disabilities whose information needs must be met," said Cisco’s Nancy Cruz in an interview with technology writer John Williams. "As a result, we do our best to accommodate their communications needs."

Radio Shack includes a special-needs section in its catalogues. In this section, the company identifies those of its products that might be of particular interest to people with disabilities. One example is a portable headset telephone that I have been using for years.

Michael Takemura was director of the Accessibility Program Office for Compaq when he spoke with iCan founder and CEO Heidi Van Arnem late last year. According to Takemura, "Every single part of our company has someone who is an evangelist or someone who has become a subject matter expert in the area of accessibility focused in their specific area."

Pharmacies like Shoppers Drug Mart and London Drugs have been creeping into this market for eons. Several of their stores have added "home care centres" that carry everything from canes and wheelchairs to reachers and easy-grip utensils. It is even possible to get your blood sugars tested or hook up to a blood pressure monitor while you wait for a prescription to be filled.

Ralph W. Shrader, past chairman and chief executive officer of Booz Allen, has worked with the company to develop ways to penetrate the disability market. He has promoted the idea of a consulting division for this purpose, initiated a disability-centred speaking program and encouraged the use of language interpreters and closed captioning. Shrader also sits on the board of at least one disability organization.

However, it is not only the big multinationals that are profiting from this emerging market. Dawson Service in New Westminster, B.C., is a small service centre that has been maintaining the fleet of a local accessible transit operation for over a decade. This contract now accounts for a large percentage of its business. Taxi companies from Halifax to Victoria are adding wheelchair-accessible vehicles to their fleets. In Toronto, there are even accessible limousines. Many mom-and-pop shops have built ramps, and some restaurants are printing their menus in Braille.

Ranger Wheelchairs in Surrey, B.C., manufactures custom scooters and wheelchairs. Company president Frank Stuzka saw the need for a quality product and realized that he could use his engineering background and experience with race-car design and manufacturing to carve a niche in an expanding market. Exploiting the weaknesses of the large manufacturers by offering personalized services at a reasonable price enabled Stuzka to establish a profitable business in a relatively short period. This type of initiative could help any small business interested in expanding its market.

One of the easiest ways to recognize that companies have started to notice persons with disabilities is by examining their advertising. It was not so long ago that it was unheard of to see someone in a wheelchair on television. Companies like McDonald’s Restaurants and The Bay now regularly feature a diverse group of subjects in their commercials. (Now, if only they would use more actors and models who actually have disabilities!)

The emergence of the disability market has already had a substantial impact on the general population. Many products and services that were originally developed for people with disabilities are now widely used in the marketplace. Closed captioning can be viewed on TV screens in the banks where you get your money, or in the bars where you spend it. I am writing this article with voice recognition software designed mainly for people with physical disabilities; this technology is now being perfected for many applications in a wider audience.
Some companies have recently been advocating for more universally designed products. The Center for Universal Design at North Carolina State University describes universal design as "the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design." If the unique needs of persons with disabilities are considered in the design stage, substantially more products reaching the market will be user-friendly for the entire population. Anybody who has ever tried to type a long document on a tiny PalmPilot keypad will welcome a solution that allows easy access to the device by a person who cannot easily type.
Finally, companies are starting to discover what many of us have known all along: people with disabilities are consumers like everybody else.
(Roger B. Jones is a professional speaker, entrepreneur and consultant based in New Westminster, B.C.)


HOW YOU CAN ENCOURAGE ACCESS

Get the Facts:
Arm yourself with statistics. Be aware of your consumer power, and be equally informed about the laws that support your right to access.

Encourage Dollars and Sense:
When a company turns away your business, they don’t just lose one customer. If you’re going to the theatre with friends, dining with a group of colleagues or shopping with your family, that inaccessible venue loses everyone’s business. If possible or appropriate, let a proprietor know he or she has lost a group of customers.

Offer Advice:
Most adaptations are not complicated or costly. But a store or restaurant might not know that. Make suggestions directly to the owner or manager, verbally or in writing. Tell him or her that a small ramp instead of the one or two steps at the entrance would make all the difference to potential customers who use wheelchairs, or that large-print signage would be helpful to someone with low vision.

Feed them with Feedback:
When you do encounter excellent service or accessibility, let the business owner know you appreciate it, and let other people with disabilities know about it, too. Customer loyalty and word-of-mouth marketing are a great reward for the company 3/4 and will help it stay in business.


WEB RESOURCES

Canadian Human Rights Commission
www.chrc-ccdp.ca
Visit the "Disability" section of this website for statistical information and to read the commission’s annual reports addressing disability rights in Canada.

Paths to Equal Opportunity
www.equalopportunity.on.ca
This government website includes examples of best practices for service providers, accommodation ideas, government services and resources.

World Association of Persons with Disabilities
www.wapd.org/about/demographics.html
Visit this web page for an interesting article about the potential market of Internet users with disabilities. Includes demographics on Internet use.

Solutions Marketing Group
www.disability-marketing.com/benefits/market-profile.php3
This web page of a consulting firm lists American statistics about the disability market such as the percentage of people with long-term disability who are heads of households (73%) and are principal shoppers (48%).

Canadian Council on Social Development
www.ccsd.ca
This Canadian website includes statistics, reports and studies on demographics of disadvantaged groups, including people with disabilities.