Assistive tech helps banks tap into the large, growing market of disabled customers and avoid monetary and reputational risks.

The coronavirus outbreak has created unprecedented challenges for deaf and hard-of-hearing people in the US. Not only have social-distancing protocols and stay-at-home orders proved isolating, mask mandates have made speech-reading difficult and stymied communication in American Sign Language (ASL), a visual language that relies on hand signing and facial expressions to convey tone, meaning, and nuance. As a result, many of the country’s 48 million adults with hearing difficulties cannot access potentially life-saving information.

People with disabilities make up a large, but diverse and underserved, segment of the US population. According to recent statistics from the CDC, 67 million adults in the US—or 26% of the population—report living with at least one type of disability.

Many marketers routinely target people with disabilities with “one size fits all” ad campaigns or exclude them altogether.