Disability viewed as an aspect of multiculturalism

There’s an interesting post about people with disabilities on a blog targeting multicultural marketing and advertising titled,
Is the disabled market the next multicultural opportunity?


The post begins by discussing basic aspects of web accessibility with regards to Section 508 and the Americans with Disabilities Act, then goes on to support that explanation with information that should make every marketer, pollster, and politician take notice. Those paying attention should include our candidates for the upcoming presidential election.

The pure logistics echo what most in the disabilities service field know:

“So how big is this market? According to the aforementioned Census report - 51.2 million people (18.1% of the population) had some level of disability and 32.5 million (11.5% of the population) had a severe disability - About 10.7 million people ages 6 and over needed personal assistance with one or more activities of daily living (ADL) or instrumental activities of daily living (IADL)”
“- Among the population 15 and older, 2.7 million used a wheelchair. Another 9.1 million used an ambulatory aid such as a cane, crutches, or walker.”
“- Approximately 7.9 million people 15 and older had difficulty seeing words and letters in ordinary newspaper print, including 1.8 million people who reported being unable to see .”

For anybody whose profession is in marketing and advertising, they should consider:
“The next question is whether this is a lucrative market for companies to consider. DiversityInc.com put out an article in 2002 that people with disabilities maintain an aggregate income that exceeds $1 trillion, with $220 billion in discretionary spending power. “

And, finally, the piece offers up a good perspective of the scope and strength of the population of people with disabilities—
“To put all of this data in perspective, the disabled market is larger than the 44 million+ Hispanic population that spends $575 billion (according to Synovate’s 2004 U.S. Hispanic Market Report).”

Given the attention that the presidential candidates, especially those from the Democratic party, have been paying to the population of Hispanic voters, that last paragraph should resonate very loudly for politicians, as well as voters with disabilities. This group of individuals have the power of a very sizable voting block. It is up to you to use that power.

If you are not registered to vote, do it. When any runoff elections take place, vote. And, finally, hit the polls in November and make your vote count.

After you are registered to vote, there is one more thing to consider. The strength of the larger population relies on acting as a group in a unified manner. Become active in disability rights organizations. Read up and understand the issues that are going to impact your life. Write to your senators and representatives to let them know which way you want them to represent you. If they don’t vote to support your interests, get active in supporting a candidate who will support what is important to you.

Disability is no reason not to vote

With the 2006 election season climaxing next week, it is imperative that we all get out and vote. If you are a registered voter and have not voted early, remember to do so on Tuesday. With the advents in physical and technological access to the polls, there is no reason for anybody of voting age not to use this right so many Americans have given their lives to protect.

This year’s election is supposed to have a good number of the electronic voting machines in place. These machines were originally intended to automate and simplify the voting process so we might all avoid a repeat of the hanging chad showdown of the 2000 presidential elections. However these machines were also heralded as revolutionary because they also had the ability to employ a screen reader and let the blind voters cast their secret ballot independently.

Personally speaking, I’ve had some experience with the electronic voting systems in the past two elections, neither of which went well and resorted to me using sighted assistance instead of the speech output that was supposed to make these devices so landmark. However, I’ll gladly work through the hassles of staff who have only cursory training on the speech technology again to have my vote count, even if we can’t get the machine to work and have to revert to a sighted person helping me.

A good discussion of the movement towards disability access at the poll is titled, “I Can’t Sing and I can’t Dance but I can vote,” written by Cass Irvin. The brief essay can be viewed at
Fred’s Head Companion,
A blog from the American Printing House for the Blind.

The bottom line is that a disability should never keep somebody from voting. There is too much legislation that affects disability programs and funding. Please encourage your students to participate in the election process.