Global Disability Statistics

8 Facts
1.3B

People worldwide live with some form of disability

Source: World Health Organization, 2023

16%

Of the global population — about 1 in 6 people — experience significant disability

Source: WHO Global Report on Health Equity, 2023

61M

Adults in the United States live with a disability

Source: CDC Disability & Health Data, 2023

26%

Of U.S. adults — 1 in 4 — have some type of disability

Source: CDC, 2023

7.6M

Americans have a visual disability, including blindness and low vision

Source: AFB — American Foundation for the Blind

$490B

Annual combined disposable income of people with disabilities in the U.S.

Source: American Institutes for Research

71%

Of users with disabilities will leave a website that is not accessible

Source: Click-Away Pound Survey

96.3%

Of home pages have detectable WCAG 2 failures (WebAIM Million, 2024)

Source: WebAIM Million Report, 2024

Top Screen Readers

7 Tools

JAWS

Job Access With Speech · Freedom Scientific

The most widely used screen reader for desktop. Industry standard for enterprise and government accessibility testing. Works with virtually all Windows applications.

Windows Paid

NVDA

NonVisual Desktop Access · NV Access

Free, open-source screen reader for Windows. Widely used in audits and testing due to its zero-cost accessibility and strong browser support (Firefox, Chrome).

Windows Free

VoiceOver

Built-in · Apple

Built into all Apple devices — Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch. Essential for iOS/macOS testing. Activated via Cmd+F5 on Mac or triple-click on iPhone.

macOS / iOS Free

TalkBack

Built-in · Google / Android

Google's screen reader built into Android. Standard tool for mobile accessibility testing on Android devices. Supports gesture navigation and braille displays.

Android Free

Narrator

Built-in · Microsoft Windows

Built into Windows 10/11 at no cost. Useful as a supplemental testing tool. Fully integrated with Microsoft Edge and Office applications.

Windows Free

Dragon NaturallySpeaking

Nuance Communications

Voice recognition software used by people with motor disabilities to control computers and dictate text. Important for voice control accessibility testing.

Windows / Mac Paid

ZoomText

Freedom Scientific

Screen magnification software with built-in screen reader for users with low vision. Tests how your site performs under extreme magnification (up to 60x).

Windows Magnifier + SR

WCAG 2.2 — The Four Principles (POUR)

4 Principles · 13 Guidelines
Principle Guideline What it Means Level
👁 Perceivable 1.1 Text Alternatives All non-text content has a text alternative (alt text for images) A
1.2 Time-based Media Captions and audio descriptions for video and audio content A AA
1.3 Adaptable Content can be presented in different ways without losing meaning A
1.4 Distinguishable 4.5:1 minimum contrast ratio; text can be resized 200% without loss AA
⌨️ Operable 2.1 Keyboard Accessible All functionality available via keyboard — no keyboard traps A
2.2 Enough Time Users can pause, stop, or extend time limits on content A
2.3 Seizures & Physical Reactions No content flashes more than 3 times per second A
2.4 Navigable Skip links, page titles, focus order, link purpose clearly defined A AA
💡 Understandable 3.1 Readable Language of page and passages identified; unusual words explained A
3.2 Predictable Pages behave in predictable ways — no unexpected context changes A
3.3 Input Assistance Error identification, labels, suggestions, and error prevention A AA
🔧 Robust 4.1 Compatible Valid HTML, ARIA roles/names/values correctly implemented for assistive technology A
W3C Standard

WCAG 2.2 Official Specification

The complete Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.2 from W3C — the global standard for digital accessibility.

 U.S. Federal Law

Section 508 Standards

U.S. Access Board's ICT accessibility standards — required for all federal agencies and government contractors.

 U.S. Law

ADA — Americans with Disabilities Act

Official ADA guidance, including DOJ enforcement and web accessibility requirements for businesses.

 Annual Report

WebAIM Million

Annual analysis of accessibility failures on the top 1 million websites — essential benchmark data.

 Global Data

WHO Disability & Health Fact Sheet

World Health Organization's global disability statistics and health equity report data.

 U.S. Data

CDC Disability & Health Data

U.S. disability prevalence, types, and state-by-state breakdowns from the Centers for Disease Control.

 VPAT Templates

ITI VPAT Templates

Official VPAT 2.4 templates from the IT Industry Council — download the latest ACR/VPAT format.

 ARIA Patterns

ARIA Authoring Practices Guide

W3C WAI's guide to implementing ARIA design patterns — correct keyboard & AT behavior for every component.