Did You Know....

..that the electronic assistive device market grew by more than 10% from 1992 to 1993, according to a survey conducted by the Electronic Industries Association. Sales of products for the visually impaired such as braille keyboards, braille displays, book players, screen magnifier software/hardware, note takers, braille embossers, speech synthesizers, reading machines and CCTV magnifiers increased 15% from $57 million to $66 million. Sales of hearing-related products such as TTY/TDD machines, telephone handsets, assistive listening devices, television captioning decoders and visual alerting devices rose 11% from $48 million to $53 million over the same period. For more information, contact EIA, 2001 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20006; (202)457-8728.

....that, after a recent settlement under the ADA, Avis will begin making rental cars with hand controls available for people with disabilities. Hand controls will be provided for 2- and 4-door compact cars, 2- and 4-door full-size cars, and luxury cars at no extra charge. To rent a vehicle with hand controls, less than 24 hours advance notice will generally be required at rental locations open until 11 pm seven days a week. More notice may be required at other locations.

....that an MIT study predicts the median age of Internet users will drop from 26 to 15 within the next five years.

....that an analysis of more than 10,000 disabled employees showed that 31% of their employment situations required no added cost for special training or facilities. 50% were under $50 and 69% cost less than $500. Only 1% cost over $5,000. Studies show that building a new facility that is accessible adds only 1/2 of 1% to the building's cost.

....that, according to SHHH and Hearing Journal, national statistics show:

1 out of every 11 persons is hearing impaired. only 1 out of every 10 hearing impaired persons have aids. about 40% of the people above age 65 have a hearing loss. only 6% of seniors feel they have a hearing problem. it takes an average of 7 years for someone with a hearing impairment to seek help.