[games_access] We must get data sooner than later

[Thomas Westin]

Hi Reid,

there is an overview of statistics in our first white paper from 2004

here is a quote from the white paper (page 10-11):


Scope of the Problem
Having seen some of the categories of people in need of accessible  
games, the next question is “how widespread is the problem?” Are we  
talking about a large number of people?

Statistics

Fortunately, there are statistics available from a variety of sources  
on the number of people with disabilities. Based on the US Census  
Bureau’s data [10] from 1997 for people 15 years old or older, the  
following results were seen:

Level of Disability

Category
Number
Percentage
No disability
160,124,000
77.0
Severe disability
30,714,000
14.8
Not severe disability
17,221,000
8.2
Total population
208,059,000
100.0

77% of the people considered themselves to not be disabled. Of the  
remaining amount, this means that almost 48,000,000 people in the  
United States consider themselves disabled.

Types of Disability

The following table shows a breakdown of the disability types
10 IGDA Game Accessibility SIG igda.org/accessibility

Type
Number
Percentage
Visual – Severe
1,768,000
0.8
Visual – Not severe
5,904,000
2.8
Auditory – Severe
832,000
0.4
Auditory – Not severe
7,134,000
3.4
Mobility – Severe
14,698,000
7.1
Mobility – Not severe
10,441,000
5.0
Learning disability
3,451,000
1.7
Other mental disability
(dementia, mental retardation, other unspecified)
6,657,000
3.2
Other disabilities
(Speech)
2,270,000
1.1
Total
53,155,000

Note that the total is larger than expected since some people fall  
under multiple categories and will be counted for each on them.
Based on the above table, it’s clear the group with mobility issues  
is the largest, followed by auditory, visual and learning  
disabilities. The other point is the size of the group that could  
have potential accessibility issues with games.
In addition to the data cited above, there are a variety of studies  
compiled by the United Nations that can be accessed at http:// 
unstats.un.org/unsd/disability/. Based on the data provided, it  
appears that between 10% and 20% of the people in a country can be  
considered disabled. Information from the W3C [11] seems to confirm  
this conclusion. In Sweden for instance, two sources say 20 percent  
of the working population (16 to 64 years old) have a disability or  
limiting condition. A third source say 10 percent of the total  
population are disabled.[14] Sweden has a population of 9 million  
people.



__________________________________
Thomas Westin
VD / CEO

Pin Interactive AB
:: Digital Culture Analysis :: Tools :: Worlds
__________________________________
Award Winning Developer
www.pininteractive.com






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