How the Social Model of Disability can create new business opportunities

What if I told you your business isn't serving people with disabilities because of your setup, not because of them?

Hard to believe? I know it sounds accusatory, but consider this: what if the barriers people with disabilities face aren't inherent to their conditions, but arise from our digital space designs?

When we create digital assets with accessibility in mind from the start, these 'problems' often vanish without compromising your products or services. This shift in perspective can change how we approach accessibility, from seeing disability as a medical issue to seeing it as a social one.

But what does this mean?

The medical vs social model of disability explained

To summarise:

• The medical model frames world barriers as a problem caused by disabled people. It's their fault they're disabled due to their medical condition.
• The social model flips it around. Instead of looking at the medical condition as a barrier, we look at the barriers that exist not because of disabled people, but because the world has created them. It relates to how society is set up and the attitude towards disabled people.

You can learn more about the two models here, but there's a lot of conversation within the disability community about viewing disability from a social model perspective.

OK, but what does that mean for your business? Why should you pay attention?

The social model of disability from a business perspective

Digital assets are rarely inaccessible for deliberate reasons. Usually, it's due to lack of awareness, making it a low priority.
In my career, there's a common trend. Each time there's a new website, product, or campaign, accessibility is never considered. If you're lucky, it's an afterthought. I say that because "at least" it has been whispered before being pushed down the list.

Businesses are inadvertently creating a number of barriers in various ways.

From a digital perspective, it could be due to:

• poorly contrasted text like light grey text on white background
• unusable forms making it difficult to use the contact form
• too many components when scrolling down
• no captions in video demos

From a physical perspective, it could be due to:

• steps in front of doors create a challenging experience for those with mobility issues
• poor use of lighting making it hard to read restaurant menus
• loud music causes difficulties for those in the community who are hard of hearing or neurodivergent
• Since this website focuses on digital accessibility, we'll concentrate on the online aspect of accessibility

Social model of disability = an opportunity mindset

In case you didn't realise it, there is a strong business case for accessibility, but we need to change how we view disabled individuals.

Viewing them through a social model mindset will translate into removing barriers, leading to an opportunity mindset and opening a new market with significant spending power. A 2019 Click Away Pounds research found inaccessible websites cost £17.1 billion in lost UK revenue.

And there are more striking statistics on the power of accessibility.

But many brands out there have adopted this mindset. For instance, Walmart shows how large retailers are treating accessibility as a strategic priority. In 2022, the company launched its Accessibility Center of Excellence (ACE) and established a Senior Executive Accessibility Leadership Council.

"The aspiration of ACE is to enable Walmart to be the most inclusive and accessible retail destination," says Gayatri Agnew, Senior Director.

The company has implemented sensory-friendly shopping hours and created the "Adaptive at Walmart" product curation program, recognising that accessibility drives both revenue and brand loyalty.

And it's not just the customers that can benefit from this. Your employees can also benefit, leading to a better, more efficient business operation and more opportunities.

According to a 2023 research report from Accenture, companies excelling in disability inclusion saw 1.6 times more revenue, 2.6 times more net income, and 2 times more economic profit than others. Leaders are also more likely to outperform industry peers in productivity by 25 percent.

Traditional vs social model view

Below are examples of what a traditional point of view looks like when discussing accessibility in a business and how a social model viewpoint is more beneficial for your business.

1. Video captions

• Traditional view: "Captions are an extra expense and it's only for deaf people, so let's use auto-captions which are sufficient."
• Social model view: Accessible videos are not just for those who are deaf and hard of hearing. They help your videos reach more viewers and improve engagement for everyone. For example, commuters watching without sound, non-native speakers, and people in noisy environments.
• Business opportunity: Higher video completion rates, improved SEO, increased shares, enhanced video engagement.

2. Website keyboard navigation

• Traditional view: "Keyboard navigation is only for blind users."
• Social model view: Clear navigation patterns benefit power users, keyboard shortcut users, those with temporary injuries, and mobile users.
• Business opportunity: Lower bounce rates, increased conversions, better user satisfaction, more website engagement.

3. Image alt texts

• Traditional view: "Alt text is additional work and only blind people need it."
• Social model view: Clear image descriptions benefit users with slow internet connections seeing placeholder text while images load, help search engines understand your content, and provide context when they do not load.
• Business opportunity: Improved SEO rankings, better user experience in areas with poor connectivity, and increased findability of your visual content.

4. Clear and Simple Language

• Traditional view: "Complex language makes us sound more professional and gains more respect."
• Social model view: Clear communication benefits everyone, including busy executives scanning content, non-native English speakers, people reading on mobile devices, and those with dyslexia or other reading difficulties.
• Business opportunity: Higher engagement rates, fewer support tickets, increased international reach, better conversion rates.

5. Colour Contrast

• Traditional view: "Light grey on white looks sleek and modern. People who can't read it aren't our target audience."
• Social model view: Strong colour contrast helps everyone read content easily. This includes people viewing screens in bright sunlight, those working late at night, users with aging eyes, and anyone scanning content on their phone.
• Business opportunity: Increased time on site, better readability metrics, reduced eye strain complaints, and higher mobile conversion rates.

Embracing the social model creates win-win scenarios

When businesses shift from the traditional medical model to the social model of disability, something remarkable happens: we stop seeing accessibility as a burden and start recognising it as an opportunity for innovation and growth.

• We remove barriers instead of focusing on disabilities, so that we:
• Open our products and services to a larger market.
• Improve the experience for all users, not just those with disabilities.
• Create innovative and flexible business solutions.
• Build a more welcoming brand reputation.

The social model isn't just about doing what's right, though that's important (and personal for me). Designing our digital spaces to be accessible from the start benefits everyone, leading to improved experiences and business outcomes.

Remember: the barriers aren't in the people, they're in our design choices. For every choice, we have an opportunity.

Every time we make an accessible choice, we're not just solving a problem; we're creating a chance.

In today's digital-first world, those opportunities are too valuable to overlook.

To see how much accessibility can add to your business, use our Web Accessibility Impact Calculator to gain insights into the potential traffic and revenue from becoming more accessible to disabled people.