Economic Independence for Americans with Disabilities Requires Owning and Operating Our Own Businesses

A photo of Clyde Terry, a member of the National Council on Disability (NCD)

By Guest Blogger Clyde Terry, Chairperson, National Council on Disability

Americans with disabilities make up nearly 20 percent of the U.S. population, roughly 1 in 5, according to the United States census. Living in a world that wasn’t always built with disabled people in mind provides ample opportunities to find solutions to everyday problems that non-disabled folks are likely to miss.

As we look back on the month of October and the landmark 70th anniversary of National Disability Employment Awareness Month observances, I can’t help but wonder: With all the attention being given to disability and employment, how could we be doing more to help people with disabilities launch and operate our own businesses?

Opportunities and real life examples abound — even while on vacation.

For example, when visiting Florida earlier this year, Parisian Charlotte de Vilmorin — a wheelchair user — was surprised to discover how difficult it was to find reliable transportation that she could use. de Vilmorin eventually found an accessible vehicle, but received a second shock when told how expensive it would be to rent — approximately $1,000 for 10 days.

It can be “very difficult to get around when you are in a wheelchair, because public transportation is not accessible,”de Vilmorin told Mashable earlier this month. “You can’t just grab a cab or rent a regular car.”

But as the saying goes, within every crisis is also an opportunity. The lack of affordable, accessible transportation options inspired de Vilmorin to take matters into her own hands. After returning to France, she cofounded Wheeliz, a car-sharing service akin to vehicle-for-hire services like Uber or Lyft that connects people with disabilities to owners of underused, accessible vehicles.

There are approximately 100,000 privately owned adapted cars in France, de Vilmorin says, and many of them are not used every day. Wheeliz provides an opportunity for car owners with accessible vehicles to earn extra money by renting out their vehicles, while also helping out a disabled consumer get where they want to go how they want to get there. In other words, on their own terms.

Meeting this need has proven to also be commercially successful. In a relatively short amount of time, Wheeliz has 120 cars listed with 900 registered users including people from other countries who are planning trips to France.

As CEO of Wheeliz, currently working with a small team of a CTO and a business developer, de Vilmorin wants to expand by creating a global network of adapted cars for people who need them.

Thankfully, opportunities for disabled people who want to own and operate their own business aren’t restricted to foreign tourists. de Vilmorin’s path to entrepreneurship began right here in the United States. With the right support and backing, Americans with disabilities are making opportunities for economic independence work for them too.

It’s easy to understand why.

People with disabilities learn to adapt and think creatively almost organically because, many times, we have no other choice. In short, when given a chance people with disabilities have shown that we are very good at creative problem solving and getting things done.

Isn’t it about time that we used those important skills and that kind of creativity not only to foster economic security and upward mobility for ourselves but also as a means to providing jobs and career opportunities for others?

Melody Stein and her husband Russell, both deaf since birth, are illustrative of the kind of success that follow your passion entrepreneurship can also offer for others.

The Stein’s launched San Francisco’s first Deaf-owned restaurant, Mozzeria, four years ago this December. In 2014, they expanded by adding a 25-foot trolley with built-in wood-burning oven and kitchen to cash in on the food-truck phenomenon. Their staff consists entirely of deaf workers.

At Mozzeria — the first deaf-owned restaurant to earn certification from the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana — adaptation and creativity are the rule rather than the exception. Deaf customers use sign language to place their orders, hearing customers write their orders on a piece of paper and delivery orders are done through use of a video relay service.

“One thing that I am proud of that we do at our restaurant,” said Russell in a video produced by the Small Business Revolution last August, “is that we bring our communities together.”

“Deaf people definitely have a harder time finding jobs,” said Melody in the video. “We’re lacking the networking in the hearing world. So I thought, you know what? I’m just going to hire a full Deaf team. It doesn’t matter if they don’t have any experience. We definitely invest our time and training in them. Now most of our team has already passed their one year anniversary which is a big, successful part of our restaurant.”

Technology has also helped level the playing field for disabled entrepreneurs.

Tonya Gore of Lincoln Park, Mich., is one example. An award-winning spinner, Gore also knits, weaves, crochets, felts hand-knitted items, dyes hand-spun yarn and teaches a variety of spinning and knitting classes in her local area, all sparked by her successful self-run business on the craft site Etsy. Gore is also blind and is wisely seeking to expand her business by building on both her interests and her strengths — including a keen sense of touch and the use of assistive technology.

“While I’m working on the Etsy shop and selling things at fairs and events, the end goal is to one day have a dedicated studio space, where I can have all of my equipment set up for my needs,” said Gore in an interview with the Detroit News on October 20, “and have it all available for teaching lessons, workshops, etc., and have people come and use the studio space for whatever they may need it for, as well. It would also be a place to have my finished products, or a means to spin or knit, based on people’s custom orders.”

The U.S. Department of Labor reports that people with disabilities, particularly those in rural areas where jobs are often scarce, have never before seen opportunities to build their own futures through entrepreneurship.

According to June 2015 figures released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, a larger proportion of workers with a disability were self-employed than were those with no disability (totaling 11 percent versus six percent of the non-disabled population). The U.S. Department of Labor notes that some of the benefits of self-employment include:

Greater independence and the opportunity to make their own business decisions.
The ability to set their own pace and schedule.
Reduction of transportation problems when a business is home-based.
Continued support from Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI), including health care, when income and assets are within these programs’ requirements.

Addressing the needs of consumers, including the delivery of goods and services, can go a long way toward helping people with disabilities achieve equitable interest and earning economic independence.

Twenty-five years after passing the Americans with Disabilities Act and over seven decades of raising awareness on disability employment have laid the foundation for the vital transition from talking about jobs to establishing the circumstances that help build careers, but significant gaps remain and the ways to close them, quite often, would be simple.

For example, people with disabilities have yet to be listed as a presumed disadvantaged group under the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) Business Development Program which helps underserved populations compete in the marketplace. Why not? Given the considerable gaps that disabled people face in both employment and training this would provide more people with an opportunity to self-employ; and to start their own companies.

No one is denying that jobs are important, but we do ourselves, the disability community, and the nation a disservice by stopping there. A shift toward an emphasis on careers and economic self-sufficiency is essential if Americans with disabilities are ever going to achieve true civic, social, and economic independence.

About the Guest Blogger

Clyde Terry is the Chairperson of the National Council on Disability, an independent federal agency that recommends disability policy to the President, Congress and other federal agencies. He’s also the Chief Executive Officer of Granite State Independent Living in Concord, NH.