In most of the world, the ultimate determination of self-control is employment. This is the basis for almost all micro-lending activity worldwide. Self-employment carries with it connotations that have traditionally precluded people with a Disability. However, people with disabilities have been using self-employment as an effective route to a job for centuries. The difference in the 90's is that the "system" is beginning to want a piece of the action. Social planners are beginning to see that economic empowerment for people with disabilities makes good business sense for society as well.
Traditional work options for people with disabilities have expanded somewhat with the Americans with Disabilities Act and other policy initiatives. However, over 50% of all people with a disability are currently unemployed. (1) Some studies indicate 70% as a more realistic figure when factoring in fully remunerative work versus sheltered or supported employment. This lost productivity represents a loss to the gross national product the vicinity of $5 billion annually (2), not to mention outlays in public dollars for individual supports, also in the billions of dollars.
Rehabilitation and placement services work to reestablish the individual's capacity to earn and contribute. In some cases, rehabilitation includes bringing a person with an existing profession or skill to the point of job entry. Counselors and job coaches are trained to develop employment skills and options for their clients. They are adept at working with employers to open up employment and work opportunities where someone else has developed and built the job base. They are capable of establishing a course of training for individuals, pursuant to full employment, once they understand the potential job openings that exist.
Where the work option is self-employment, counselors and job coaches are less versed. Rehabilitation and placement service agencies are not aware, on the whole, of economic development resources, business start-up methods, or entrepreneurial characteristics and requirements.
A key process to developing business ownership as a work option for people with disabilities is to incorporate personal and business supports from both economic development and social service resources. The successful integration of these systems has never been easy, and can only be done with great effort. Once accomplished, however, the resulting support mechanisms will work well in tandem. ( In New Jersey's disability loan program, the total integration of economic development and social service programs is still in process. However, to the degree that it has been achieved, it has resulted in persons with a disability seeking business start-up and expansion assistance being received positively in either court. The perception that self-employment is a viable option for these people has been the major attitude shift viewed in both camps.)
The attitude shift is showing. US Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) Director Dr. Fred Schroeder has indicated that the RSA, major funding source for vocational rehabilitation services nationally, was placing more emphasis on self-employment and entrepreneurship as an option of consumers of Vocational and Rehabilitation services as of this year. At the recent conference of the President's Committee on Employment for People with Disabilities, President Clinton emphasized self-employment and entrepreneurship as viable work options for this population. This action, while providing little in the way of concrete funding as yet, clears a path for federal agencies to target self-employment as an option.
