Microenterprising and People with Disabilities: Strategies for Success and Failure - Statistical Data Included

Journal of Rehabilitation, April-June, 2001 by Richard T. Walls, Denetta L. Dowler, Kimberly Cordingly, Louis E. Orslene, John D. Greer

There were also 487 cases during 1998-99 in which the caller reported that he or she was employed at the time of the call but was considering microenterprise as an option. These individuals requested the packet of general information on self-employment. Of the callers who received this general information, 103 contacted the Job Accommodation Network again to discuss self-employment in more detail.

In response to this level of interest and need, the President's Committee established (November, 1999) the Small Business and Self-Employment Service (SBSES) as a project within the Job Accommodation Network. The SBSES provides information, counseling, and referrals about self-employment and small business ownership opportunities for people with disabilities. Self-employment options for people with disabilities are only viable if the support system exists to facilitate these efforts. Based on the experience of callers to the SBSES, adequate structures are not widely in place at this time to support the needs of those who wish to become self-employed. One major hurdle callers face is finding a counselor who can work with them from the initial stages of microenterprise development into the life of their business. Some callers initially are unable to articulate how their job skills could be translated into a viable business. Others have well-developed ideas about the business they would like to pursue but have been discouraged by various agencies from pursuing these goals (Small Business and Self-Employment Service, 1999).

Callers often state that they are "worn out" from their experiences with public vocational rehabilitation, health care, and the social security system. There is need for both vocational and general counseling, as it is impossible to separate the other "life" issues from the "vocational" ones. People are looking for employment options, but they also need a place where their other (related) life issues can be addressed. It seems plausible that the public vocational rehabilitation program could fill much of this gap. The following description represents the plight of one such caller as reported by a consultant from the SBSES.

   A woman called the SBSES project inquiring about jobs we knew of that would
   allow her to work from home. She also stated that she would be interested
   in starting a home-based business, but that she had few assets, and her
   credit had suffered due to medical interruptions in her previous jobs. Her
   current strategy when she applies for a position is to disclose to the
   potential employer, up front, that she will most likely need time off for
   surgeries during her time there. She found that her state's vocational
   rehabilitation program was less than helpful. She had attempted to discuss
   options to work from home or start her own business, but they refused to
   entertain her ideas. She then contacted her local Small Business
   Development Center (SBDC), and they set up an appointment for her to meet
   with a Service Corp of Retired Executives (SCORE) representative. She
   described this experience as very degrading. The SCORE representative had
   no exposure to working or interacting with someone with disability. He had
   been the CEO of a large corporation and had no experience in working with
   "small" or "microenterprise" initiatives. Her goal in contacting the SBDC
   was to begin this process. When she had her initial meeting with the SCORE
   representative, one of his first statements to her was, "Let me see your
   business plan." From the start, the person with disability and the SCORE
   representative were at very different places in the process. The SCORE
   representative went on to "scold" her for not being more prepared and
   organized, not having a business plan, and "wasting" his time. She left
   this meeting feeling upset, demeaned, and hopeless.