Your Booming Market Awaits

Businesses ebb and flow, trends come and go. Products that rise to the top of every cycle possess three things: good design, good function, good price. But inevitably, size of the market drives development. Size does matter.

I am a member of an enormous, powerful consumer group: aging Baby Boomers. Not only are we vast in numbers, but also we are accustomed to spending on things that make us feel good. I am also a member of a very “elite” group known as people with low vision. We, too, are rapidly becoming vast in numbers. We will not be all that “exclusive” anymore.

The optical industry must recognize the need for better product design, better function, and even better prices for this massive market. Then, we won’t call them “low vision devices;” they will simply become vision accessories.

People with low vision have hardly been a vocal constituency, so allow me to give them a voice. We want good-looking glasses. We do not want heavy frames with thick lenses. We, too, want the fabulous high-fashion frames and lenses seen in every optical store. And we want fashionable magnifiers, too. This doesn’t seem like a lot to ask for in an age when our most desirable technologies are getting sleeker, slimmer and more eye-catching every day.

This is an opportunity. Your booming market awaits an infusion of style!

Dorrie Rush is the marketing director for Accessible Technology at Lighthouse International. To read about how a low vision or blind user interacts with the Internet, don’t miss VM’s special online series “Web Site Accessibility” only on VisionMonday.com.  ■