Assessing the Media Habits and Needs of the Mobility-Disabled Consumer

With passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, businesses became aware of the 43 million disabled consumers as a source of concern and additional expense, but not as a salient market segment. Advertisers have yet to recognize that by learning more about the communication needs of the disabled, they can devise strategies to reach that large and generally ignored population of consumers. The authors report a study comparing mobility-disabled with nondisabled consumers in terms of media usage, attitudes toward advertising, and media needs. The results show several significant differences between the two groups. Implications for advertising practitioners are discussed.