According to a report conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International in 2010, one in four American adults live with a disability that hinders them from carrying out daily living activities, such as climbing stairs, hearing, trouble dressing, and so on. Fifty-four percent of those use the internet, compared to 81 percent of non-disabled adults. Two percent of the interviewees state that they have a disability or illness that makes it harder or impossible for them to use the internet, breaking the internet’s promise of connecting users with information irrespective of location, material and physical possibilities.

In addition, a Pew study reveals that the Internet is a site for fostering group connections and civic engagement. Only 41% of adults with disabilities have broadband Internet at home, as compared with 69% of those without a disability. The study’s limitation goes as far as admitting that “this is a correlation that we observed, not causation,” says Susannah Fox, associate director at the Pew Internet and American Life Project tells Howard. “We don’t know that it’s the disability that’s causing that difference, but we do know that it’s not just lower levels of education or income, or age, all of which tend to depress Internet access rates. It’s something else.”

While the stats are disheartening, some web services are proactive in their efforts to make content more accessible to disabled or hindered users.  Last week the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) announced an agreement with one of the largest online travel agencies, Travelocity, to make the travel site homepage more handy for blind people.  The update makes it easier for the blind to search flights, hotels, vacation packages, last minute packages, cars and rail, cruises, activities and completing bookings, in the coming months.