Disability Employment & Entrepreneurship

This entry is part 6 of 9 in the series Tough Topics

Summary

Many disabled people face unfair barriers in traditional jobs. This leads to much higher unemployment rates. But the skills required to manage a disability every day makes these people great business owners. They can use their unique skills to build successful careers while controlling their own schedules and environments.

Disability Employment & Entrepreneurship also appears on our Substack Newsletter, Making Work Accessible, as part of our Tough Topic Thursdays series.

Tough Topic: Disability Employment & Entrepreneurship

What’s the deal with the disability employment statistics? Why are so many disabled people looking for work, and why do some choose entrepreneurship?

The very act of managing a disability in a world often not built for it cultivates a specific, powerful set of skills.

When Traditional Workplaces Just Don’t Work

For many, entrepreneurship is not just a choice driven by passion but a path forged out of necessity, driven by the frequent rejection and lack of support in traditional workplaces. The decision to become an entrepreneur is often a response to the profound difficulty of finding and maintaining a stable, supportive job due to:

The Accommodation Barrier: While laws like the ADA mandate reasonable accommodations, the process of requesting and receiving them can be fraught with misunderstanding, delay, and outright refusal from managers or HR departments. The fear of being viewed as “difficult,” “high-maintenance,” or “less productive” due to accommodation needs pushes many to seek environments where they control the structure.
Attitudinal Discrimination and Bias: Beyond logistics, many disabled individuals face biases about their capacity, commitment, or health. When a manager or HR department lacks understanding, a request for flexibility or an adjustment to the workspace can be perceived as an imposition rather than a simple necessity, leading to isolation, stalled career growth, or constructive dismissal.
Need for Flexibility: Managing a chronic condition or disability often requires a flexible schedule (for medical appointments, rest breaks, or energy-level management). Traditional employment structures often punish this need for flexibility, whereas entrepreneurship allows for the ultimate customization of the work environment and schedule.

The Entrepreneurial Edge

The grit and ingenuity required to manage a disability in daily life translate seamlessly into the high-stakes environment of business ownership. Far from being a deficit, lived experience with disability acts as a rigorous training ground for the persistence and creative problem-solving essential to any founder’s success.

Persistence & Self-Advocacy: Securing necessary accommodations, fighting for equal access, and simply existing in the world often requires relentless persistence and strong self-advocacy. This experience directly translates into the grit needed to launch and sustain a new venture, where rejection and the need to pitch an idea repeatedly are common hurdles. Disabled entrepreneurs are adept at defining their needs and communicating their value, which is essential for sales and leadership.
Resilience & Problem-Solving: Daily life as a disabled person is often an exercise in continuous problem-solving. This includes navigating inaccessible environments, managing health fluctuations, and constantly seeking alternative ways to achieve goals. This ingrained resilience and ability to overcome obstacles is the foundation of a successful business owner who must face unexpected setbacks, shifting markets, and logistical challenges.
Creative Adaptation & Innovation: The need for accommodations forces an inventive mindset. A disabled person must often create, modify, or hack existing systems, tools, or processes to make them work. This is the definition of innovation: the ability to look at a problem (the lack of an accessible tool) and devise a novel, practical solution. This creativity often translates into unique business ideas, inclusive product design, or highly efficient workarounds.

What Does the Data Tell Us?

The latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) starkly illustrates the disparity in employment, highlighting why self-employment is a crucial alternative for the disability community.

Employment-Population Ratio: 38.2% compared to 74.7%
Labor Force Participation Rate: 42.1% compared to 77.9%
Unemployment Rate (All Ages): 9.4% compared to 4.4% (more than double!)

Massive Employment Gap Persists: The employment-to-population ratio, the most direct measure of who is actually working, for people with a disability remains less than half that of those without a disability (38.2% vs. 74.7%). This enduring, massive gap clearly demonstrates systemic exclusion from the traditional job market.

Higher Unemployment: The unemployment rate for people with disabilities is consistently more than double the national rate, signaling that even among those actively looking for work, the barriers to securing a job are significantly higher.

The “Self-Creation” Imperative: These figures confirm that for the majority of the working-age disability community, the traditional employment path is either inaccessible or non-existent. Entrepreneurship acts as a critical avenue for self-determination, allowing individuals to leverage their skills in an environment they control, effectively bypassing systemic bias and the need for often-denied accommodations.

Is It Right for You?

If you’ve been following my story, you’ll know I chose entrepreneurship after years – actually, decades – of being excluded from the traditional workforce in many ways due to my own disabilities and the discrimination I faced. Today, that exclusion has been replaced by a thriving, multi-faceted startup. By building a business with diversified revenue streams (spanning books, public speaking, online courses, and private consulting) I’ve created an ecosystem where I can truly excel. We are even currently developing an app to scale our expertise further. The catalyst for this success is the radical autonomy entrepreneurship provides: I no longer have to fight for accommodations; I simply design my work around my life. I work when my productivity is highest and step away when my health requires it, proving that when the environment is right, the disability is no longer a barrier to high-level achievement.