1 in 4 Americans identifies as disabled – including approximately 20 million U.S. working-age adults. According to the America Institute of Research, the total disposable income (after taxes) for this segment is about $490 billion, similar to the size of the African-American ($501 billion) and Hispanic ($582 billion) markets. The discretionary income of working-age people with disabilities is about $21 billion, more than the African-America and Hispanic markets combined.
If not, your business may be losing market share and running a risk of a lawsuit under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Last year, more than 4,000 digital accessibility cases were filed under the ADA. That's more than 10 per day and includes only federal cases and those filed under California's Uhruh Act, according to UsableNet.
And it’s certainly less costly than a lawsuit and the resulting negative publicity and social media. Level Access reports that retrofitting a website to make it accessible adds about 10% to the total cost of building the site. Phasing in accessibility or building it in fro the start costs much less—between 1% and 3%.
Outlook Business Solutions’ website testers use adaptive technology every day to live, work and play. They conduct a thorough review of your website to identify any accessibility obstacles. Missing alt text for images, incorrectly labeled buttons and navigational errors can lock out those with disabilities from using your services or applying for jobs with your company. Faced with a website that’s difficult to access, most consumers with disabilities will simply move on to a site that is easier to use.
Automated solutions that crawl the code of your website looking for accessibility errors may identify only a fraction of the problems. Using human testers provides an added layer of usability insight to your development team. And when you use testers from Outlook Business Solutions, you provide earning opportunities to professionals with visual impairment and help reduce the staggering 70% unemployment rate among this group.
The digital world is moving toward a standard of full accessibility for websites and platforms. Be a leader in your community and your industry by ensuring your company adopts best practices and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), the global guidelines for accessibility. And reap the added benefits of an expanded market and reduced legal risk.
Outlook Business Solutions provides accessibility testing for organizations and companies. We can run diagnostics, analyzing how accessible your website and/or app is. Skilled technicians will test your online/digital platforms and provide recommendations for ensuring your content meets ADA and WCAG guidelines. Contact us for a free initial evaluation of your website.
Your subscription price is based on the hours of support your team needs to ensure the sites and apps you build for clients meet accessibility standards.
| Hours per month | Monthly | Annual (prepaid) |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | $350 | $3,750 |
| 5 | $750 | $8,100 |
| 10 | $1,250 | $13,500 |
| 20 | $2,000 | $21,600 |