The vulnerability of consumers with disabilities: The benefits of taking time into account

Abstract

In a society faced with rapid social acceleration, time is a central issue for consumers, especially when they are disabled. This qualitative research therefore proposes to study the way in which time contributes to the vulnerability of these particular consumers. To do this, we consider consumers as being caught up in different embedded, stratified temporalities that need to be synchronised. The analysis of 51 interviews conducted with people with motor or hearing impairments reveals a vulnerability fuelled by problematic individual temporal experiences and by a lack of synchronisation with the time of others and/or with the time of society. These findings contribute to the literature by shedding light on the complex articulation between individual, interpersonal and structural factors at the origin of vulnerability. Managerial recommendations are then formulated in order to help consumers reappropriate their time.