The Internet is having a very positive impact on the lives of adults with disabilities who are online, and this impact is much greater than it is among adults without disabilities. As the number of adults with disabilities online continues to increase, the Internet is helping to greatly improve the quality of their lives. Specifically, it allows adults with disabilities to be better informed, more connected to the world around them and puts them in touch with people who have similar interests and experiences.

These conclusions are all drawn from a Harris Interactive Poll of 535 adults with disabilities and 614 adults without disabilities, who access the Internet, and who were surveyed online between March 22^nd and April 5^th. This research was conducted for the National Organization on Disability using a grant from Aetna US Healthcare.

The data from the survey were statistically weighted to be representative of all adults, with and without disabilities who are online, whether from home, work, school, library or other location. People with disabilities are less likely than people without disabilities to be online (43% v. 57%). In particular they are much less likely to be online from work (16% v. 30%), because for fewer of them are working.

The main findings of this online Harris Poll include (with all percentages based on adults who are online):

• Adults with disabilities spend, on average, twice as much time online as adults without disabilities who are not - 20 hours per week compared to 10 hours per week.
  

• Adults with disabilities are much more likely than adults without disabilities to report that the Internet has significantly improved the quality of their lives (48% vs. 27%)
  

• Adults with disabilities are also more likely than adults without disabilities to report that the Internet has helped them to:
  

• Be better informed about the world (52% vs. 39%)

• Feel connected to the world (44% vs. 38%)

• Reach out to people with similar interests as experiences (42% vs. 30%)
  

• Conversely, adults without disabilities are slightly more likely than adults with disabilities to say that the Internet has significantly helped them communicate and socialize with close friends, relatives and neighbors (49% vs. 42%).

Further analysis by age points to interesting differences in the use of the Internet between adults with and without disabilities. For adults with disabilities, those who are younger (under 30) tend to use the Internet more often - an average of 25 hours versus 8 hours than younger adults (under 30) without disabilities.

In addition, even though the average number of hours spent on the Internet decreases somewhat as adults with disabilities get older, those who are older say that the Internet has significantly improved the quality of their lives in greater numbers than comparably aged adults without disabilities.

____________________________________________________________