This document discusses entrepreneurship opportunities for persons with disabilities. It provides an overview of the European Association of Service Providers for Persons with Disabilities (EASPD) which promotes equal opportunities for people with disabilities. The document then outlines some key challenges to entrepreneurship for persons with disabilities, such as societal and physical barriers, and recommends a multi-faceted approach called STAR (Stakeholder involvement, Targeted actions, Availability of support, Research) to address these challenges. Finally, it highlights some models of good practice and recommendations to promote entrepreneurship among persons with disabilities.

1. Entrepreneurship for persons
with disabilities
Sabrina Ferraina
18/04/2012

2. Table of contents
Introduction to EASPD
PWD
Methodologies
Entrepreneurship and PWD
Models of good practices
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3. E ASPD
The European Association of Service Providers for Persons
with Disabilities (EASPD) promotes the equalization of
opportunities for people with disabilities through effective
and high quality service systems in Europe.
EASPD represents 10.000 service provider organizations
across Europe.
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4. What we do
1) IMPACT
- Active cooperation with EC, EP, CoE
- Policy influencing
7)INFORMATION
- Inform members
- Organization of events
- Project development workshop
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5. What we do
3) INNOVATION
-Provider fora
-Conferences
-Projects
-Seminars
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6. EASPD’s structures
 3 STANDING COMMITTEES
• Standing Committee on Education
• Standing Committee on Enlargement
• Standing Committee on Employment
 POLICY IMPACT GROUP
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7.  3 INTEREST GROUPS
-IG on Occupational Services
-IG on Independent Living
-IG on Assistive Technology
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8. Legal framework
• UN Convention On The Rights Of Persons With
Disabilities (UN CRPD)
• Council of Europe Disability Action Plan 2006-2015
• EU Disability Strategy 2010-2020
• Relevant EU laws
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9. Legal framework
UNCRPD: shift of thinking
-From « objective needs » to « subjective
rights »
-From paternalistic to interactive ethics
-Focus on the empowerment of the individual
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10. Background information
on disability
• 80 million European citizens have a disability
• 1/6 EU citizens between 16 and 64 is reported to have a long-standing
health problem or disability
• Persons with disabilities are less likely by more than 50% to reach third
level education as non disabled persons
• 1/3 of those persons do not experience any restriction in their working
abilities
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11. Disability & work
- Disabled people are 2 to 3 times more likely to be
unemployed than non-disabled persons
- Over 50% of disabled people are totally excluded from the
workforce
- 69% of all Europeans have a job
- 29% of Europeans with disabilities have a job
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12. Methodologies
S.T.A.R.
S – Stakeholder
T – Targeted actions
A – Availability of support
R - Research
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13. Why STAR?
A multifaceted approach is needed
Policies should be built around the STAR
areas
Employment is crucial to combate poverty
and aim at full inclusion of pwd in society
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14. STAR
Recommendations
• Stakeholder cooperation
– Structural multi-stakeholder approach
– Shared responsibilities, respect roles and perspectives
– At local, regional and national level
• Targeted actions
– To raise the profile of people with disabilities
– To create real employment opportunities
• Availability of support
– For both employers and employees
• Research
– Collected data to enable assessment of initiatives and approaches
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15. EASPD &
entrepreneurship
- Cooperation with ILO Global Business and
Disability Network
http://www.businessanddisability.org/
- Development of innovation
- Lobby at EU and national level
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16. Main issues for pwd
 Societal barriers
 Physical accessibility
 Accessibility to funding & sponsors
 Need for adaptations
 Need for training
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17. How to promote
entrepreneurship
- The starting point is the shift of mind
promoted by the UN CRPD
- Identify areas where pwd can be a source
of inspiration
- Support abilities and highlight strenghts of
pwd
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18. Models of good
practices
FOCUS ON ABILITIES:
Inclusion Galileo
www.inclusion-fp7.org
FOCUS ON STRENGHTS:
-Specilisterne (DK)
www.specialisterne.com/dk
-Capito (AT) www.capito.eu
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19. Recommendations
- Ongoing support for employers and
employees
- Technical assistance
- Self-employment should not be the
substitute for other types of employment
-
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20. Thank you for your
attention!
Sabrina Ferraina
Research & Development Officer
sabrina.ferraina@easpd.eu
www.easpd.eu
18/04/2012