Entrepreneurs with disability: Australian insights through a social ecology lens

Abstract

The study of people with disability who become entrepreneurs has been a neglected field of research but with a developing body of knowledge from different countries around the world over the last two decades. This paper aims to contribute to that body of knowledge through examining the journeys of entrepreneurs with disability (EwD) in Australia. It does so through a theoretical framework guided by the minority entrepreneurship literature, their lived experiences through social model understandings of disability and a social ecology framework. The research design involved interviews with 60 EwD with the findings examining their motivations, barriers, enablers, outcomes and benefits. The discussion examines the social, economic and cultural embeddedness of EwD’s journey, the paradox of their higher rates of entrepreneurship than the nondisabled and the entrepreneurial ecosystem. We conclude by outlining the contribution this study makes to disability entrepreneurship through the complexity revealed by the social ecological framework.

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