Findings About Working-Age Adults

The findings in this section contain information about working-age adults in the US who range from 18 to 64 years old and are likely or very likely to benefit from the use of accessible technology due to mild or severe difficulties and impairments.

Difficulties and Impairments among Working-Age Adults

The bar graph in Figure 2 shows the percentages of working-age adults who reported having each type of difficulty or impairment defined in the survey. Visual, dexterity, and hearing difficulties and impairments are the most common types of difficulties or impairments among working-age adults:

• Approximately one in four (27%) have a visual difficulty or impairment.
• One in four (26%) have a dexterity difficulty or impairment.
• One in five (21%) have a hearing difficulty or impairment.

Somewhat fewer working-age adults have a cognitive difficulty or impairment (20%) and very few (4%) have a speech difficulty or impairment.

The table in Figure 2 represents the numbers of working-age adults (in millions) who have each type of difficulty or impairment defined in the survey. For the top three difficulties and impairments:

• 16% (27.4 million) of working-age adults have a mild visual difficulty or impairment, and 11% (18.5 million) of working-age adults have a severe visual difficulty or impairment.
• 19% (31.7 million) of working-age adults have a mild dexterity difficulty or impairment, and 7% (12.0 million) of working-age adults have a severe dexterity difficulty or impairment.
• 19% (32.0 million) of working-age adults have a mild hearing difficulty or impairment, and 3% (4.3 million) of working-age adults have a severe hearing difficulty or impairment.

Figure 2: Likelihood to Benefit from the Use of Accessible Technology by Type of Difficulty/Impairment among Working-Age Adults

Majority of Working-Age Adults Likely to Benefit from the Use of Accessible Technology

The findings in this study show that the majority of working-age adults are likely to benefit from the use of accessible technology. As shown in the chart in Figure 3, 60% (101.4 million) of working-age adults are likely or very likely to benefit from the use of accessible technology.

The chart in Figure 3 also shows the percentages of working-age adults who are likely or very likely to benefit from the use of accessible technology due to a range of mild to severe difficulties and impairments:

• 38% (64.2 million) of working-age adults are likely to benefit from the use of accessible technology due to a mild difficulties and impairments.
• 22% (37.2 million) of working-age adults are very likely to benefit from the use of accessible technology due to a severe difficulties and impairments.
• 40% (67.6 million) of working-age adults are not likely to benefit due to a no or minimal difficulties or impairments.

Figure 3: Majority of Working-Age Adults Likely to Benefit from the Use of Accessible Technology

The fact that a large percentage of working-age adults have difficulties or impairments of varying degrees may surprise many people. However, this study uniquely identifies individuals who are not measured in other studies as "disabled" but who do experience difficulty in performing daily tasks and could benefit from the use of accessible technology.

Note that many or most of the individuals who have mild difficulties and impairments do not self-identify as having an impairment or disability. In fact, the difficulties they have are not likely to be noticeable to many of their colleagues.

Next page: Findings About Computer Users

(A Research Report Commissioned by Microsoft Corporation and Conducted by Forrester Research, Inc., in 2003)