TriplePundit • Disability Inclusion is the Untapped Market Hiding in Plain Sight

One of the world’s fastest-growing economic forces is still flying under most companies’ radar: the disability economy.

The misconception that disabled consumers interact only with medical services or lack economic influence is outdated and costly. I am DeafBlind and, before launching Safman Consulting to help policymakers and companies integrate accessibility and intersectional design, I worked as a paralegal and later specialized in loan documentation and financial-crimes compliance in law firms and financial institutions. My path is not an anomaly.

Over 2 million blind and low-vision adults are employed today, along with millions of deaf and hard-of-hearing workers. Full-time disabled workers earn a median of $48,937. Disabled Americans control an estimated $490 billion in disposable income, and globally, disabled purchasing power is an estimated $8 trillion.

Disabled America is not a monolith but a constellation of niche consumer communities with unmet needs and strong loyalty to brands that finally address them. Data from the 2023 American Community Survey and the 2025 Disability Statistics Compendium illustrates the scale: More than 12.1 million Americans have hearing-related disabilities, 8.3 million have vision-related disabilities, and 4.27 million are blind or low-vision working-age adults. Millions more have mobility, psychiatric, cognitive or chronic health disabilities.

Globally, the disability economy represents a $23 trillion market opportunity spanning artificial intelligence accessibility, consumer technology, financial technology, healthcare, travel, smart-home automation and inclusive mobility. Aging populations, AI-driven design tools and major advances in assistive technology are accelerating what analysts now call the accessibility economy. This is not charity work — it is a core business strategy.

Consumers reward the brands that show up

Creative agency Misfit Media’s analysis of more than 500 brand campaigns shows how dramatically the landscape has shifted. It found that 84 percent of consumers trust brands more when disability is represented, and 73 percent would switch to a more inclusive competitor — even at a higher price. Disability-inclusive campaigns deliver 65 percent higher return on investment and 18 percent higher engagement. They also generate 80 percent more earned media without additional spending.

At a time when AI deepfakes and misinformation erode public trust, authenticity itself has economic value. Authentic representation of disabled individuals has become one of the strongest — and least utilized — brand trust signals available.

Accessibility is the new baseline, not a bonus feature

Across industries, inaccessible websites, mobile apps, documents, events or videos without captions send a clear message: You were not considered. Consumers notice, but regulators are noticing even faster.

The legal environment is tightening, with states including California, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland and New York expanding digital accessibility requirements. California now treats inaccessible websites as consumer-protection violations. Colorado mandates accessibility for state agencies and their vendors. New York enacted legislation I helped develop, requiring contractors and vendors to comply with WCAG 2.1 Level AA, a set of guidelines for making online content accessible.

These shifts create real business risks: attorney-general enforcement, civil penalties, private litigation and lost public-sector contracting opportunities. Digital accessibility has become an enterprise-wide competency, not a siloed IT project.

Gen Z already redefined workplace expectations

For Gen Z and younger millennials, accessibility is not an accommodation. It is standard infrastructure. Barrier-free employment requires clear, documented accommodation processes and accessible career pages, job applications, onboarding, internal documents, videos, workflow tools and HR systems that can initiate accommodations within 24 hours.

When companies lack these systems, candidates quietly withdraw and employees exit quickly. Organizations often interpret this as a “talent shortage.” More often, it is an accessibility shortage — an expensive and avoidable one.

Investors are pivoting to materiality, and disability is material

As global ESG (environmental, social and governance) frameworks shift toward financially material metrics, disability inclusion is emerging as a measurable driver of enterprise value. It affects customer acquisition and retention, brand trust and reputation, regulatory and litigation exposure, workforce productivity and retention, and innovation capacity and new-market expansion.

Simply put: Ignoring disability is not neutral. It is a strategic disadvantage reflected in revenue, margin and operational risk.

What business leaders must prioritize in 2026

To ensure disability inclusion shapes the next era of ESG performance, leaders should focus on five critical actions.

Build accessibility into products and services from the start. Accessible-by-design scales smoothly, while retrofitting is slow, costly and inconsistent.

Integrate disability metrics into ESG and financial reporting. Track digital accessibility, workforce representation, procurement practices, customer experience and incident data.

Invest in DisabilityTech and inclusive AI. Innovation in automated captioning, alt-text generation, adaptive interfaces, robotics and accessible financial technology is accelerating rapidly.

Modernize workforce accessibility. Audit recruiting systems, remediate documents, upgrade HR technologies and formalize accommodation processes.

Align early with U.S. state and emerging EU accessibility requirements. Meeting the WCAG 2.2 standards now is far less expensive — and far less risky — than paying for noncompliance later.

The turning point

The U.S. cannot meet its sustainability, workforce or innovation goals while tens of millions of disabled Americans remain structurally excluded. With a $23 trillion disability economy reshaping global markets, the organizations that lead on accessibility in 2026 will capture the loyalty of long-overlooked consumers and build the workforce of the future. Disability inclusion is not the next frontier. It is the frontier. The companies that move first will own it.

Feature image credit: Getty Images/Unsplash