Sorry, we don’t serve your kind, here

What if I told you that there’s a huge, untapped Canadian market worth billions of dollars out there, a market that your business knows nothing about? A market so dramatically underserved and dismissed, one that your brand has potentially been antagonizing for years? If I told you about such a market, would I get your attention? Would you want to know about it?

I’m dead serious. This market does exist, and it’s been right under your nose this entire time. I’m talking about the “disability market”, one that represents over 6.2 million Canadians who self-identify as having one or more disabilities. On top of these people, this market also extends to their loved ones, their friends, and colleagues. Those who care about them and who can easily be swayed towards your competition, when the ones they care about suffer atrocious experiences with your brand, your products, your services, your business…

Are your products and services set to accommodate the needs and expectations of people who have disabilities? Can someone who’s blind, deaf, or unable to operate a mouse independently purchase your products and services online? Are your web properties and other digital assets truly inclusive of everyone, or are they putting up the equivalent of a sign that reads “we don’t serve your kind here”?

Simple questions with complicated answers…

These are simple yes or no questions. And if you can’t answer any of them with a clear, resounding “yes”, or if your answer is “huh, I don’t know…”, then your brand probably causes prejudice to millions of fellow Canadians without you even realizing it. Worse, your brand might be exposed to very serious litigation risks, depending on the provinces you do business in! Arguably, it’s easy to dismiss the disability market as one essentially made of poor and underprivileged people – clients that are not worth your precious time, resources, and energy. Truth be told, over 97% of business owners make that mistake all the time…

Back in 2017, the Conference Board of Canada (CBC), an independent, applied research organization, estimated that the total consumer spending power of Canadians with disabilities represented roughly 14% of the total Canadian consumer market. And what was the estimated value of that market in dollars? Over 165 billion dollars a year… Yes, you read that right. That’s $165,000,000,000 in consumer spending power. Per year.

But it gets better. According to additional data shared by the Conference Board of Canada, by the time we reach 2030, that market will have increased to account for 21% of the total Canadian consumer market, with a projected value that will exceed $316 billion annually. So, let’s take advantage of this opportunity to make something very clear: if your brand isn’t proactively working towards being inclusive of people who have disabilities, then your brand is most likely shutting these people out, because of your organization’s inability to communicate about your products and services in a way that is truly inclusive of everyone.

On any given day, as we’re sharing our awesomeness from our various platforms – more than 40% of our audience likely struggles with barriers we unknowingly put in their way. I’m not just talking about typical brand disengagement, Zoom fatigue, or the constant calling of cute cat videos or viral posts on social media… I’m talking about the barriers that we raise in the way of our own success. The barriers that we create ourselves, because we fail to provide our audience with accessible content.

I’m talking about 4 out of every 10 members in our audience who have disabilities or experience disability-related challenges or circumstances. This also includes those who are simply older or are non-native speakers, and who want nothing more than to sink their teeth into our juicy content as well. But sadly, those are also the same people that are denied such an opportunity, just because of the way we present and deliver our content to them.

What if your biggest loss of potential revenue came, not from the people who don’t really like your brand all that much, but rather, from the customers and prospects you never really bothered to consider in the first place?

People with disabilities. People getting older. People who struggle with technology. Non-native speakers. The list goes on and on and on!

What if this very significant portion of your audience, at any given time, was at a high risk of disconnecting from you and your message, just because of the way you delivered it? What if this caused you to lose thousands of dollars in lost opportunities from the disability market each year? Wouldn’t you want to know about it? Wouldn’t you want to figure out ways to do something about that?

My name is Denis Boudreau. I’ve made it my life’s mission to create a more inclusive world, where people are empowered to truly connect. A small goal, I know! I do this by empowering professionals who monetize the spoken word to more inclusively bridge the gap between themselves and that elusive 40% of their audience… If these considerations resonate with you, or if this is something you’d like to explore further, then let’s get in touch.