funders, while using the UK government’s Access to Work scheme is challenging. Disabled entrepreneurs require accessible support, information and funding to establish and grow successful businesses. Having access to tailored guidance and reasonable adjustments – at the right time – is critical. But most of those we spoke to described additional hurdles and barriers for disabled entrepreneurs to overcome if they are to compete with non-disabled entrepreneurs. There was frustration and anger among our participants as they found their business success and financial independence threatened by inaccessible information and services, discriminatory attitudes, barriers to funding, and ill-functioning state support. These unmet needs undermine disabled entrepreneurs’ ability to establish sustainable and economically viable businesses and plan for growth. They highlighted the need for a digital resource specifically for disabled entrepreneurs to easily access free advice and support on setting up, funding, and marketing their business. Almost all our participants reported difficulties in securing finance to establish or grow their business. “The barrier I’ve found is going to lenders. As soon as they know you’re disabled, it seems to shut a door… To get funding is a nightmare really,” Karen told us. We heard how participants felt being disabled made them a risky investment, and how they would sometimes hide their disability. Participants’ accounts indicated that funders could perceive them as lacking the capability to succeed. There needs to be increased access to specialised funding from government or from social enterprises, who recognise that disabled entrepreneurs often start from an unequal position, and that selfemployment can be beneficial to health and wellbeing. A LACK OF ACCESS Funding is not the only area with added difficulties. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)’s Access to Work service aims to help employees and self-employed people to remain in or return to work if they are disabled, have an illness or a health condition. In most cases, this is for disabled employees to say what their needs are. They have a conversation with an assessor, who says where employers need to make changes to the work environment or where they should be offered equipment. Provision includes mental health support, assistive technology, support workers, or mentorship. Awards were seen as invaluable support by those who received one. In our research, we looked at whether disabled entrepreneurs knew about Access to Work. If they did, were they claiming it, and what was their experience? Our findings show that Access to Work has limited guidance for self-employed applicants, and the assessments are fraught with all kinds of challenges, mainly because the DWP assessors often do not understand the ins and outs of being a self-employed disabled person. Combining employed and selfemployed work also appears to complicate assessors’ decision-making on allocating support. One of the entrepreneurs we spoke to, Lorraine, told us her experience of applying when self-employed had been ‘much more complicated’ than when she had previously applied as an employee. She pointed to advisors’ lack of understanding of self-employment and how this made the process unnecessarily complex. “The reason why most self-employed people don’t get Access to Work [is] because Access to Work are doing something wrong,” she said. Some participants used advocates to navigate the system – disabled peers who were able to draw on their experience as successful claimants. They were regarded as vital in securing positive outcomes, but it was clear that more needs to be done to improve the application process and support applicants. MAKE A CHANGE Our findings confirm that disabled people face serial inequities in the labour market. They face barriers specific to disabled entrepreneurs. The government need to invest in disabled people who decide to be entrepreneurs to make their businesses successful and selfsustaining. Strategies that promote disabled-led enterprise should be a key policy priority. One of our recommendations is an online centralised resource containing information, guidance and support specifically for disabled people wishing to establish or expand their businesses. That should be in various formats, so it is accessible to visually and hearingimpaired people. You can have an easyread version for people with learning disabilities, because we do not assume that people with learning disabilities could not be business owners. Disabled people should not be excluded from the opportunity to be an entrepreneur. It just might require a bit more support to help you along the way. FIFTY FOUR DEGREES | 33 Dr Cara Molyneux is a Senior Research Associate in the Department of Organisation, Work and Technology. The article Navigating Serial Inequities: The Unmet Support Needs of Disabled Entrepreneurs, by Dr Paula Holland, of Lancaster University Faculty of Health and Medicine; Dr Cara Molyneux, of the Department of Organisation, Work and Technology; and Jacqueline Winstanley, of Lancaster University Faculty of Health and Medicine, and Universal Inclusion, is published in Disability and Society. The study was funded by grants from the Versus Arthritis/Medical Research Council Centre for Musculoskeletal Health and Work and the Innovation Caucus (funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and Innovate UK). c.j.molyneux1@lancaster.ac.uk
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