Although 50 million people in the United States have some form of physical or mental disability, they spend money just as easily as others. But there are few efficient ways for advertisers to reach them, and that’s what a new Web site, Disaboom.com hopes to change.
Disaboom is the brainchild of J. Glen House, who graduated from medical school after becoming a quadriplegic as a result of a skiing accident at 20. The site combines the social-networking features of Web sites like Facebook with information of interest to its constituency: medical news, career advice, dating resources and travel tips.
Marketing to people with disabilities may look great on paper, but it is not easy.
“We’re a very difficult group to reach,” said Eric Lipp, founder of the Open Doors Organization, a nonprofit group that consults with companies about the disability market. “People in the marketing world will say, ‘I can reach out to them,’ and I’m just telling you it’s not easy. We’re just spread out over all kinds of walks of life from different races to different religions to different income levels and education.”
“The disability community to a large degree is trying to get more visibility as a desirable constituency, whether you’re talking about customers with money in their pockets, or a talent pool to hire from, or voters,” Andrew J. Imparato, president of the American Association of People With Disabilities, said. “To a large degree, we feel like we’re invisible as a market and a political constituency.”
The number of adults with some form of disability is by all accounts growing, in part because the population is aging. Disability rates among older people are substantially higher, greater than 40 percent of the population 65 and over, compared with 19 percent of those between 16 and 64, according to census data.
The portion of the population with a disability will rise from one in five today to nearly one in four by 2030, according to Open Doors.
“They call us T.A.B.’s; the temporarily able bodied,” said Howard Lieber, vice president for sales at Disaboom.com, who does not have a disability. “If you live long enough, you will get some physical limitation. You will eventually experience some of what these people are experiencing right now.”
Disaboom is the brainchild of J. Glen House, who graduated from medical school after becoming a quadriplegic as a result of a skiing accident at 20. The site combines the social-networking features of Web sites like Facebook with information of interest to its constituency: medical news, career advice, dating resources and travel tips.
Marketing to people with disabilities may look great on paper, but it is not easy.
“We’re a very difficult group to reach,” said Eric Lipp, founder of the Open Doors Organization, a nonprofit group that consults with companies about the disability market. “People in the marketing world will say, ‘I can reach out to them,’ and I’m just telling you it’s not easy. We’re just spread out over all kinds of walks of life from different races to different religions to different income levels and education.”
“The disability community to a large degree is trying to get more visibility as a desirable constituency, whether you’re talking about customers with money in their pockets, or a talent pool to hire from, or voters,” Andrew J. Imparato, president of the American Association of People With Disabilities, said. “To a large degree, we feel like we’re invisible as a market and a political constituency.”
The number of adults with some form of disability is by all accounts growing, in part because the population is aging. Disability rates among older people are substantially higher, greater than 40 percent of the population 65 and over, compared with 19 percent of those between 16 and 64, according to census data.
The portion of the population with a disability will rise from one in five today to nearly one in four by 2030, according to Open Doors.
“They call us T.A.B.’s; the temporarily able bodied,” said Howard Lieber, vice president for sales at Disaboom.com, who does not have a disability. “If you live long enough, you will get some physical limitation. You will eventually experience some of what these people are experiencing right now.”
No comments:
Post a Comment