Understanding the scope and impact of disability.
📊 Data that matters
The big picture
Disability is common, diverse, and part of the human experience. These statistics help us understand who we're designing for—and why accessibility matters.
1.3B
People worldwide with disabilities
World Health Organization, 2023
16%
Of the global population
WHO, 2023
61M
Adults with disabilities in the U.S.
CDC, 2023
26%
Of U.S. adults (1 in 4)
CDC, 2023
United States disability statistics
Disability types among U.S. adults
| Disability type | Percentage | Number |
|---|---|---|
| Mobility (serious difficulty walking) | 13.7% | ~35.2 million |
| Cognition (serious difficulty concentrating/remembering) | 10.8% | ~27.7 million |
| Hearing (deaf or serious difficulty hearing) | 5.9% | ~15.1 million |
| Vision (blind or serious difficulty seeing) | 4.6% | ~11.8 million |
| Independent living (difficulty with errands alone) | 6.8% | ~17.4 million |
| Self-care (difficulty dressing or bathing) | 3.7% | ~9.5 million |
Source: CDC, 2023
Disability increases with age
| Age group | Percentage with disability |
|---|---|
| 18-44 | 14% |
| 45-64 | 27% |
| 65-74 | 38% |
| 75+ | 55% |
As the population ages, the percentage of people with disabilities will increase. Building accessible now is building for the future.
Higher education statistics
19%
Of undergraduates report a disability
NCES, 2020
12%
Of graduate students report a disability
NCES, 2020
<40%
Of students with disabilities register for services
GAO, 2009
2,500+
UA students registered with DRC
UA DRC, 2024
Most common disabilities in higher ed
- Mental health conditions (depression, anxiety, PTSD)
- Learning disabilities (dyslexia, dyscalculia)
- ADHD
- Chronic health conditions
- Autism spectrum
- Physical/mobility
- Hearing
- Vision
Outcomes gap
Students with disabilities face significant barriers:
- 34% lower 6-year graduation rate compared to peers without disabilities
- 20% more likely to withdraw in the first year
- Higher rates of academic probation
Accessible education isn't just nice—it's necessary for equitable outcomes.
Digital accessibility statistics
96%
Of home pages have WCAG failures
WebAIM Million, 2024
50
Average errors per home page
WebAIM Million, 2024
71%
Of disabled users leave inaccessible sites
Click-Away Pound, 2019
4,500+
Web accessibility lawsuits in 2023
Accessibility.com, 2024
Most common web accessibility issues
| Issue | % of home pages affected |
|---|---|
| Low contrast text | 83% |
| Missing alt text | 58% |
| Missing form labels | 46% |
| Empty links | 45% |
| Missing document language | 18% |
| Empty buttons | 27% |
Source: WebAIM Million, 2024
Economic impact
$13T
Global spending power of people with disabilities + friends/family
Return on Disability, 2020
$490B
U.S. disposable income of people with disabilities
AIR, 2018
$6.9B
Annual lost revenue to inaccessible UK retail sites
Click-Away Pound, 2019
Employment statistics
- 21% employment rate for people with disabilities (vs. 65% without)
- $25,000 lower median earnings for employed people with disabilities
- Companies with disability inclusion initiatives are 2x more likely to have higher shareholder returns
Assistive technology usage
Screen reader users
- JAWS: 40% (Windows, commercial)
- NVDA: 38% (Windows, free)
- VoiceOver: 12% (Mac/iOS)
- Narrator: 4% (Windows, built-in)
- TalkBack: 3% (Android)
Source: WebAIM Screen Reader Survey, 2024
Browser usage among screen reader users
- Chrome: 53%
- Edge: 19%
- Firefox: 15%
- Safari: 11%
Other assistive technologies
- Screen magnification: Used by ~7 million Americans
- Speech recognition: Growing rapidly, especially Dragon NaturallySpeaking
- Switch devices: Used by people with severe motor impairments
- Alternative keyboards: One-handed, large key, braille
Legal landscape
Web accessibility lawsuits (U.S.)
| Year | Number of lawsuits |
|---|---|
| 2018 | 2,258 |
| 2019 | 2,256 |
| 2020 | 3,503 |
| 2021 | 4,011 |
| 2022 | 3,225 |
| 2023 | 4,500+ |
Higher education settlements
Notable settlements with universities:
- UC Berkeley: Required to caption all public videos
- MIT, Harvard: Lawsuits over video captioning
- Various state universities: DOJ investigations
Key takeaways
What do these numbers tell us?
- Disability is common: 1 in 4 people—not an edge case
- The web is largely inaccessible: 96% of sites have failures
- There's a huge business opportunity: $13 trillion in spending power
- Legal risk is real: Lawsuits continue to increase
- Students need accessible education: 19% of undergrads have disabilities
- Disability increases with age: Build for your future self