Don’t Just Think about Jobs for People with Disabilities, Think Business Ownership

by Andrés T. Tapia –

After reviewing all the distressing news about unemployment among people with disabilities, it’s refreshing to see an article that points to one possible solution to the problem. A recent Baltimore Sun story, reports on the budding partnership between the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and the online auction site eBay to support blind entrepreneurs who may want to start a small business.

With an unemployment and under-employment rate that approaches 70%, the blind community will have to consider a variety of options, with business ownership being one, in order to put a dent in this situation. The partnership couldn’t have come at a better time.

It’s no secret: jobs are hard to find for everyone. The unemployed – whether people with disabilities or without – continue to search for jobs as our official unemployment rate consistently hovers around 10%. Yet eBay sellers operate in a marketplace with 90 million active users, and it’s considered one of the best places to start an online business. In 2009, the total worth of goods sold on eBay was $60 billion or $2,000 every second. Further supporting this idea, small businesses are still considered the backbone of the economy, creating many, if not most, of the country’s new jobs. So, encouraging people with disabilities to consider business ownership may be a way to secure their own financial futures.

That will only occur with cutting edge technology and the resolve to make it happen. It seems that the NFB and eBay are tapping into both. For its part, the NFB has a laboratory and analysts to determine how easily tech tools and websites can be used by the blind. The group also has a hard-hitting advocacy arm that targets government agencies and private companies it considers stalling progress.

And eBay recognizes the business potential in reaching out to the 1.3 million people in the U.S. who are blind. “The goal here is for our collaboration to go beyond mere compliance with industry-best guidelines for web accessibility,” said Jonas Klink, eBay’s senior product manager for accessibility. “The goal is to work with the NFB to identify promising individuals, provide seed funding, and help them set up eBay stores.”

So rather than looking for jobs, blind business owners may be offering jobs instead.

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