Self-employment provides an important source of income for disabled people, who face multiple barriers in the labour market. Underpinned by Sen’s capability approach, we explore, through interviews and focus groups, the unmet support needs of 37 disabled people identifying as self-employed or entrepreneurs. Participants’ freedom to establish and expand their businesses was constrained by institutional and structural barriers. Disabled entrepreneurs lack accessible tailored guidance on business registration and many rely on support and mentorship from other disabled entrepreneurs. Start-up and growth funding is scarce and complicated by funders’ negative attitudes and difficulties navigating application systems. Securing financial support for reasonable adjustments from the UK Department for Work and Pensions Access to Work service is challenging and often requires peer support, as application guidance and service advisors overlook the complexities of self-employment. Disabled entrepreneurs require accessible and tailored support, information and funding to establish and grow successful businesses.
Points of interest
Disabled people face multiple barriers in the labour market and have significantly lower employment rates than non-disabled people in all countries for which there are data.
Self-employment can offer financial independence and greater autonomy over working hours, work environment and pace of work. However, disabled people face additional barriers to self-employment/entrepreneurship that non-disabled people do not.
Disabled entrepreneurs lack accessible, tailored information on establishing a business; in its absence, many rely on receiving support and advice from disabled peers.
Securing finance to establish and grow the business is hampered by encountering negative and discriminatory attitudes from funders and limited sources of funding.
The UK government’s Access to Work service provides funding for reasonable adjustments. Barriers to securing this funding included lack of application guidance for self-employed applicants; assessors’ limited understanding of the complexity of self-employment; and stress from the administrative burden and the lengthy application process.
