People with disabilities are more often excluded from working life than others; one way of promoting inclusion in the labor market is self-employment. The aim of this article is to add to the knowledge about the establishment motives for starting one’s own business among people with disabilities and reduced working capacity in Sweden. Data were collected from 16 people with disabilities across Sweden. Ten semi-structured interviews with self-employed people with disabilities and one group interview with six blind and visually impaired people were conducted. Themes of establishment motives were identified through thematic analysis. Five themes were identified: flexibility and self-determination; economic motives; negative work experience; contributing something; and being an entrepreneur. Results are related to the concepts of entrepreneurial ecosystem, necessity and opportunity, and identity positions as an entrepreneur. The motives for self-employment have not previously been studied to any great extent in the Swedish context. This article is a contribution to this internationally emerging field of research. For professionals and policymakers, the study highlights the need not only to focus on the individual perspective but also to support and to develop the entrepreneurial ecosystem simultaneously.

Les personnes en situation de handicap sont plus souvent exclues de la vie professionnelle que les autres. L’un des moyens de promouvoir l’inclusion sur le marché du travail est le travail indépendant. L’objectif de cet article est de compléter les connaissances sur les motifs de création d’entreprise chez les personnes en situation de handicap et à capacité de travail réduite en Suède. Des données ont été recueillies auprès de seize personnes en situation de handicap à travers la Suède. Dix entretiens semi-directifs avec des personnes handicapées travaillant à leur compte et un entretien de groupe avec six personnes aveugles et malvoyantes ont été réalisés. Différentes sources de motivations à créer sa propre entreprise ont été identifiés par une analyse thématique. Cinq thèmes ont été identifiés: flexibilité et autodétermination; motifs économiques; expérience de travail négative; apporter quelque chose; et être entrepreneur. Les résultats sont liés aux concepts d’écosystème entrepreneurial, de nécessité et de possibilité, et de position identitaire en tant qu’entrepreneur. Les motivations pour le travail indépendant n’ont pas encore été étudiés de manière approfondie dans le contexte suédois. Cet article est une contribution à ce domaine de recherche émergeant au niveau international. Pour les professionnels et les décideurs politiques, l’étude souligne la nécessité de ne pas se concentrer uniquement sur la perspective individuelle mais de soutenir et de développer simultanément l’écosystème entrepreneurial.

In many countries, self-employment has become a common strategy for achieving inclusion in the labour market. Studies show that the occurrence of self-employment depends not only on individual motives, but also on existing policies and support. In Sweden, labour market measures to include people with disabilities are primarily organized to achieve inclusion through traditional forms of employment, though one tool offered by the Swedish Public Employment Service is Support to Start a Business. One part of this support is exclusive to people with disabilities. Although the Swedish Public Employment Service is responsible for this specific support, they collaborate with both external state-funded and non-profit actors who assess applicants’ business ideas.

Drawing on the methodological approach of institutional ethnography, this article explores how the in-house frontline workers and external actors describe their professional roles, how they make decisions and what the chain of action looks like at multiple sites. Nine representatives from the various organizations that people can meet with when trying to start and run their own business have taken part in semi-structured interviews.

The analysis identifies different institutional practices that overlap when people with disabilities apply for support to start their own business: one focusing on the efficient allocation of resources, and the other on the individual’s social and financial welfare by protecting the individuals these organizations meet with from risks connected to economy and health. These two practices reflect a long-standing conflict between control and support in objectives within both labour market policy and social work. This support of self-employment for people with disabilities is organized by actors who traditionally have not been studied in research on social work.