Entrepreneurial projects and realities: narratives of men and women with disabilities Laura Lamolla 1, Conxita Folguera 2 1 Department of Economics and Business, Open University of Catalonia (UOC) 2 ESADE-Ramon Llull Disability affects 15% of the world population (WHO, 2011) Types of disability: - Physic (motive an no motive) - Sensorial (visual and hearing) - Intellectual - Mental Born or acquired (illness, accident, war,…) Ways of partipating in the labour market (Spanish context): - Inclusion in “normal” companies - Special Work centres - Occupational Therapy Centres - Entrepreneurship Methods: We will use qualitative methods to analyse the narratives of the discourses of disabled entrepreneurs. Data will be gathered using (1) interviews with men and women who are developing an entrepreneurial project; (2) interviews with experts and consultants on assessing entrepreneurial projects; and (3) experts on disability inclusion in organizations. Narratives will be analysed to identify patterns of persuasion in these entrepreneurial projects (Barrull et al. 2010; Czarniawska, 2004; McCloskey and Klamer, 1995) Expected Results: An awareness of the narratives that are able to communicate the contribution of these entrepreneurial projects in order to attract funds and gain customers can help people with disabilities in their projects for inclusion and participation in the labour market. By interviewing both men and women, we aim to analyse too whether there are differences in how these narratives are constructed using an intersectionality perspective (McCall, 2005) Key words: Entrepreneurship, disability, narratives, intersectionality, gender. The disability experience Abstract Motivations to set up their own business fall in the following categories: Inclusion processes are not always successful (necessity model): “I can’t find a job because of my disability “ Entrepreneurial attitude or vocation: “How to put the baby in a cradle when you go with a wheelchair? I produce and sell cradles for people with wheelchairs” Willingness to exploit underemployed resources: “ I have a house in the countryside, I turn it into a hotel” The type and visibility of disability influence the narratives used by the entrepreneurs to persuade both customers and potential investors. Methods Qualitative: Document and discourse analysis of narratives. Narratives will be analysed to identify patterns of persuasion of entrepreneurs with disabilities using an intersectionality perspective. Disability & Entrepreneurship Background: In a context of economic recession, organisations with a focus on disability inclusion experience a reduction in their resources to this issue. Self-employment and entrepreneurship are encouraged for people with disabilities as a way to (re) enter the labour market. But, in order to succeed, entrepreneurs need to persuade both customers (who will buy the products/services) and investors (who will provide financial resources to set up the project). However, entrepreneurs with disabilities compete with other entrepreneurs and organisations for resources to fund their projects and attract customers as well. Objectives: This research aims to examine rhetoric patterns of discourses addressed to customers and investors in relation to gender and disability identity through the voices of men and women with disabilities and professionals working on the field of disability entrepreneurship million are people with disabilities in Spain 1.17 in the labour market (2010) or 3.8% of the age cohort Men are more likely to be disabled than women until the age of 45 and then the position reverse. Source: EPA 2008 Motivations to starting a business: Necessity driven entrepreneurs: Some people are pushed to entrepreneurship because they have no other job and need a source of income. Opportunity-driven entrepreneurs: they are pulled into entrepreneurship to pursue an opportunity and desire greater independence in their work or seek to maintain or improve their income. “The entrepreneur, as argued recently in Metin Cosgel and Lamen (1990) is above all a persuader, in the classical word, a “rethor” exercising the characteristic faculty of human nature for pay” In McCloskey, D. and Klamer, A (1995) “One quarter of GDP is persuasion “ in The American Economic Review. Preliminary findings Contact: Up to date we have had the following interviews: - Director of Insertion* in Catalunya and Balears (profile 1) - Two entrepreneurs (men) with physic and mental disabilities. (profile 2) * Insertion is the code name of the organizations for inclusion of people with disabilities, one of the major actors in disability inclusion in Spain. Next steps and how can you help us ProfilesTarget (1) Men and women entrepreneurs of established business*10 men 10 women (2) Experts and consultants on assessing entrepreneurial projects5 (3) Experts on disability inclusion organizations3 * Are those that have been in existence for more than three and a half years (GEM 2013) As the following step is to reach the number of interviews we have planned we need to get in touch with more entrepreneurs. If you know someone with this profile, don’t hesitate to contact us: