The Global Nature of Disability

A mega-segment. That is what disability can be termed in marketing parlance. At 1.1 billion people, it is third in size behind the segments of men and women. Its prevalence is not subject to historical migration patterns, it has no state affiliations, no celebrated religion and recognizes no income/societal status. Governments and cultures may deny its existence, but from a business standpoint, the demographic is real. At the end of the day, when asked the question, “Do you consider yourself to have a disability?” one fifth of the world answers “Yes.”

So why is disability quietest 1.1 billion people ever to walk the earth? The easy answer is rooted in difference. Our society has historically felt comfort around ‘sameness’. In cultures around the world, the tolerance for difference varies from mere observance, to a cause for the end of one’s life. The tolerance for difference to has evolved as information creeps across the globe more readily. As this tolerance evolves, disability starts to make material noise. This is now reaching a tipping point.

In the West, most elements of diversity is now entering the mainstream. The evolution to equality has taken root in western societies over the course of the 20th century. Whether it is gender, race or disability, statutes have been enacted to theoretically denote equality under the law. While these laws set floors from which to stand, a lawyer’s pen has never changed society, alone. Markets change society by practice. For women’s and ethnic markets, the best firms have recognized significant profit opportunities by both opening doors to employees and serving the unique desires of these markets. Leaving aside political struggles (as this author strives to remain outside that realm), the realization of market development for women and ethnic markets occurred over the span of thirty years. Following the logic of Moore’s law(albeit extrapolated) one can assume as firms get better at serving ‘different’ markets, the time it will take to identify and execute will be slashed dramatically. If it took 30 years to figure out the women’s market, it’ll take 5 to 10 years for firms to see results in disability. For a market this size, that means action needs to start last Tuesday.

In Asia, the Middle East and South America a different picture is painted. The key concept here is leverage. In these emerging markets, they are building the fundamental building blocks of a 21st century market democracy. Yes, even in China. While these markets have a lot on their hands, and disability is not high on their to-do lists, the population will play a material role in development and is not going away. As witnessed in countries like Lebanon and Jordan, as information moves more freely, populations become engaged and play larger roles in society. Disability will be one of these populations. How quickly this happens is nothing more than a guess, but 20 years seems a stretch.(shorter rather than longer) The firms that hone their model in developed markets first, adapting that model to emerging markets later, will reap the massive rewards of leverage. Leading begets leading in this case.

Africa is a different reality. There exists a whirlwind of cultures that range from respect to outright fear of disability. Demographically, the population is as prevalent as the rest of the world, but as in mainstream emerging market investing, the volatility in Africa makes assessing risk opaque at best. This win will come at a later time.

The magic of disability is that what is true in one part of the world is largely true in other parts. Disability is a rare phenomenon, a global homogeneous market. While there are some cultural differences in disclosing one’s disability, the core reasons are similar, only amplified. Strategy can be ported from one successful application to another with minor local twists, leveraging prior local success. This makes disability a scalable global market for both multinational corporations and international agencies, with the ability to capture share of wallet/mind without the added costs of local process replication.

Peering into the not too distant future, the global disability market will be a part of doing business no matter where business gets done. Its size, pervasiveness and potential means that it cannot be ignored. There is a path of least resistance, flowing from developed economies, into the emerging world and finally resting in the developing nations. At this flow’s culmination is a base of power, both market and political, that equals the largest groups on the planet. Those who move now will lead this mega-segment into the latter half of the 21st century.