Disability Statistics
People
RtF's solutions are designed to help people who face barriers due to aging, disabilities, or low literacy. These groups tend to overlap, so it's difficult to determine exactly how many people we can affect. We estimate that there are at least 1 billion people in this group, and it may be closer to 2 billion. Here's a breakdown:
Aging
- 500 Million people (7% of the world's population) are over the age of 65 (1)
- 35 Million people are over the age of 85 (1)
- 15% of the world's population is expected to be over 65 by 2050 (1)
Disabilities
- 10-15% of the world's population have disabilities. That's at least 600 million people, and likely more than 1 billion. (2)
- According to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Blind Union, there are about 300 million blind or severely low vision people worldwide.
- Also according to WHO, there are about 275 million people with moderate or greater hearing loss, the levels that would tend to impede usage of ICT such as phones and recorded sound.
- Aging and disability are linked. 52.6% of people over age 75 have disabilities. (2)
- Disabilities are differently distributed in advanced and developing countries.
Illiteracy
- Over 1 billion people (16% of the world's population) cannot read. (3)
Context Is Important
These numbers grow and shrink depending on who is trying to do what, in what environment. The gap between a person's abilities and the demands placed on that person by a product or service is complicated. Someone may have no trouble reading a large computer display, but find a wireless device to be illegible. A person with dementia may be able to listen to an audio book, but may find an emergency announcement to be incomprehensible.
More information / Sources
Internet Access
Since our Initiative is based around making it easier to use the Internet, we're also interested in overall Internet availability and usage. Statistics show that people in developing countries are using the Internet from mobile phones and public access centers more often than from personal computers. These up-and-coming platforms will be a focus for future accessibility developments.
Internet and Computer Usage
- 23.5% of the world's population has Internet access right now (that's about 1.5 billion people) . This number has more than tripled since 2000, and is expected to continue its rapid increase. (4)
- However, people with disabilities use the Internet much less than people without disabilities. According to a 2010 US government study, the overall adoption rate of home broadband was 68%, but only 38% for people with disabilities.
- According to Lighthouse International, in the US 51% of persons (all ages) with no disability regularly use a personal computer, compared to 13% of persons with vision problems. While 23% of persons without a disability have never used a computer, 70% of those with a visual problem have never used one.
Mobile Phones
- There are more than 4 billion mobile phone subscribers worldwide. Many of these phones also have access to Internet resources. (5)
Public Internet Access Centers
- Many users access the Internet through public internet access centers, such as internet cafes, schools, and libraries. The availability of these centers differs greatly by region, but in some areas they are very popular.
- For example, developing nations in Asia have public access in 99% of municipalities and even the least developed nations in Africa have public access in 11% of municipalities. (5)
More information / Sources
Information and communication technologies are advancing at an ever-increasing rate, and are rapidly being incorporated in every aspect of life. Individuals throughout the world, in both developed and developing countries are finding that, while they may have been able to ignore or avoid technology in the past, the use of technology is rapidly becoming a necessity. As a result, those who cannot access and use technologies are increasingly being put at a distinct economic, social, and educational disadvantage in comparison to those who do have access. In many places, even daily living activities now require access to and use of technology.
Final Note
We know that many factors contribute to low levels of ICT usage, such as age, income, and educational attainment. There really are no good statistics about how much the "inaccesibility factor" contributes to this problem -- and RtF's Needs and Numbers project wants to help gather those statistics. We think that this factor hasat least 3 parts:
- The reality of inaccessibility. Many ICT products really are hard or impossible to use, especially for people with more severe limitations, and AT solutions may not exist. Projects under the RtF umbrella will seek to develop methods of improving accessibility across many platforms, for many categories of users, including support for new AT products and services.
- The perception of inaccessibility. Common sense says that a person who has never been able to use a computer is less likely to keep trying; many people with disabilities have this kind of "technological pessimism", and so do not actively seek solutions for their needs. RtF will be spearheading outreach programs that aim to break down this pessimism and provide solutions that users can try without investing much time or money.
- The cost and complexity of accessibility. Many accessibilty solutions are expensive and hard to use. Assistance with selecting and learning to use these solutions can be a challenge for average users. According to data collected from The Lighthouse National Survey on Vision Loss (The Lighthouse Inc., 1995), only 30% of adults (age 45 and older) with self-reported vision impairments report using an optical device (such as a magnifier or telescope). If the percentage of users is 30% for such simple technologies as a magnifier, we expect it would be much lower for more complex solutions like screen readers.
