Would it be surprising to you to that according to the U.S. Census Bureau 20% of the adult population reports having a disability? To bring it closer to home, imagine 54 million adults with various disabilities shopping for food, electronics, health and beauty, home goods, travel and much more, spending nearly 200 Billion dollars every year. In addition, there are 11 million adults that have a condition that makes it difficult for them to leave home to shop. This forces them to heavily rely on catalogs and the internet to get products. If those figures were not staggering enough, there are an additional 23 million parents in the U.S. who have at least one child between the ages of 5 and 16 that have a disability.

There are three sub-markets towards which a company’s efforts could be directed:

1. Adults

2. Parents

3. Siblings, Grandparents and other Caretakers

While there are many disabled adults who leave the home daily to work, run businesses, eat out and travel, there are also many, over 10 million in fact who have a disability so severe that it makes it difficult for them to leave their home to shop, visit the doctor, etc. Of course they do make purchases, but rely heavily on the internet and catalogues to obtain what they need.

When looking at the parent population, it’s important to note that their income, assets and home ownership are the same as the general population but the factors that impact their purchasing decisions are often somewhat different. Companies need to understand those differences.

What about when a parent is no longer around? Then it is often the adult sibling or another caretaker that steps in. These individuals also make decisions on where to live, vacation and shop with the child's needs in mind first and foremost.

In addition to their sizable spending power, these consumers, both individually and as a community are extremely loyal to businesses that make an effort to understand and accommodate their needs. Gain their loyalty and a company can make quite an impact with new customers and increase revenue dramatically.