www.dol.gov/odep
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Small Business and Self Employment for People with Disabilities Are you a highly motivated self-starter who is good at planning and organizing?
If so, you might be candidate for starting your own business. The Office of Disability Employment Policy would like to help you explore the many options available for starting a business by putting you in touch with the expert resources and financial programs used by over one million new businesses each year. BackgroundRecognizing that people with disabilities have historically demonstrated a strong interest in working for themselves, the Office of Disability Employment Policy initiated a project to ensure
Information from the 1990 national census shows that people with disabilities have a higher rate of self-employment and small business experience than people without disabilities (12.2 percent of people with disabilities versus 7.8 percent of people without disabilities.) Even so, entrepreneurship for people with disabilities is often overlooked by government programs and by many people with disabilities as an avenue from the public rolls to self-sufficiency. The Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) statistics for 1997 show that only 2.7 percent of the 223,668 vocational rehabilitation clients with successful closures became self-employed or started a small business. However, RSA's own recent demonstration programs on client choice reported that between 20-30 percent of their participants chose self-employment, substantially above the rate of self-employment or small business closures reported by state vocational rehabilitation agencies. These statistics are particularly relevant now because of trends in the national economy. The very nature of work is changing. Governments and private sector employers are reducing their workforces, shifting toward more contingent employment, including temporary, part-time and contract employees. These trends are increasing the demand for contract services and goods and many people are responding by starting small businesses or becoming self-employed. Barriers to Entrepreneurship for People with DisabilitiesStarting a business is a major task for anyone. People with disabilities face additional barriers. It is critical that the potential roadblocks be recognized early on. From attitudinal barriers to lack of coordination among federal programs, an array of obstacles confront adults with disabilities who want to start a business:
Other obstacles include unavailability of bonding, inability to obtain insurance, restricted access to support networks, lack of knowledge about bidding opportunities, and discrimination based on misguided stereotypes about the capabilities of people with disabilities. Benefits of Entrepreneurship for People with DisabilitiesDespite the barriers, many enterprising people with disabilities do run successful businesses. Self-employment and small business ownership are attractive to people with disabilities for several reasons:
Individuals with disabilities who receive income support, such as Social Security or Supplemental Security disability payments, can increase their income while staying within the income and asset requirements of those programs. If you think owning your own business or being self-employed is an
attractive idea, contact our new Small Business Self-Employment
Service (SBSES) for valuable information. SBSES includes links to
other entrepreneurship sites, including the Small Business Administration, and
provides information on a variety of technical assistance resources, as well as
resources for writing business plans, financing, and other issues specific to
developing a small business. Individual assistance is available toll-free by
telephone: |
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