Accessible Apps — A market of 70 million users

Did you know that as per Census 2011, 70 million people in India are suffering from one or the other kind of disability. Does this ring a bell? Are you wondering what does this piece of information mean for you? Why should it be bothering you? What has disability got to do with business?

Take a look at the graph below and read below to see what I imply:

19% of these 70 million people, i.e. close to 13 million people in India are disabled by their vision. Some of them are partially impaired and some fully.

A similar percentage cannot hear properly.

20% of the people are restricted by their mobility.

Are you still unclear on what I mean?

Are your apps friendly for these people?

Are you developing features for these 70 million?

When 13 million people cannot see, what stops us from making our apps talk? Isn’t is just like app localization, it increases our user base. In fact, iOS provides guidelines to make our apps accessible. Not supporting voice is like not supporting your application for specific user base. Imagine 20% of your traffic coming from Chrome. Will you think twice before supporting Chrome? If not, why is this the case when it comes to making the app accessible?

If you are a travel site, are you developing holiday packages which can cater to differently-abled people? Around the globe, there are enough accessible places where people can holiday. Are you thinking there or not is the question.

If you are a marketer, can you not add sub-titles to all your video campaigns?

If you are a job-portal, can you not ask the recruiter to additionally tell if this particular opening can be filled by someone who is differently-abled? For example, if you are looking for a data-entry person, you can fill that opening with someone who is otherwise restricted in his movement. Trust me, differently-abled people can turn out to be much stable employees and dedicated and productive as well.

If you are the Uber and the Ola of the world, how about offering a pick-at-doorstep for differently-abled folks?

Differently-abled people would love to do stuff online. It saves them the hassle of physically going out and shop. All they are looking for is for you to recognize them as a potential customer base!

I am not asking you to be a philanthropist but wanting you to create a win-win situation.

P.S. — The story was first published on my LinkedIn channel. Do pick a copy of my book ‘Because Life Is A Gift’ for getting inspired by real life heroes, who though disabled, have achieved miraculous stuff in their journeys of life.