Treating disability as an asset (not a limitation): A critical examination of disability inclusion through social entrepreneurship

Mauksch, Stefanie; Dey, Pascal (2023). Treating disability as an asset (not a limitation): A critical examination of disability inclusion through social entrepreneurship Organization, p. 135050842211505. Sage Publications 10.1177/13505084221150586

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Social enterprises play an increasing role in providing employment opportunities for disabled people. This paper examines the implications of social enterprises’ market-based approach to disability inclusion, which is characterized by viewing disability as an asset rather than a limitation. Taking our inspiration from critical disability scholars who have pointed out that inclusion agendas produce disability as a distinct social reality, we use a performative lens to examine how social enterprises variously ‘do disability’, for instance, by defining where the potentials of disabled people lie and how best to promote them. Drawing on an ethnographic study of Magic Fingers, a Nepal-based enterprise that employs blind people as massage therapists, we identify entrepreneurial ‘doings’ of disability that were guided by ideals of empowerment but that ultimately produced new and subtle forms of exclusion. By closely examining the case organization’s founding phase, as well as its practices of advertising, recruitment, and day-to-day management, we show how Magic Fingers commodified disability in novel ways, reinforced the notion of disability as a negative condition that must be ‘overcome’ through work, and introduced new market-oriented evaluative distinctions between ‘more able’ and ‘less able’ disabled individuals. By exploring and evaluating these effects, this paper draws attention to the ways in which social enterprises, while challenging deficit-oriented representations of disability, can paradoxically solidify disability as something profoundly ‘other’.

Item Type:	Journal Article (Original Article)
Division/Institute:	Business School > Institute for Innovation and Strategic Entrepreneurship Business School > Institute for Innovation and Strategic Entrepreneurship > Low-end Innovation Business School
Name:	Mauksch, Stefanie and Dey, Pascal0000-0003-2792-0061
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
ISSN:	1350-5084
Publisher:	Sage Publications
Language:	English
Submitter:	Pascal Dey
Date Deposited:	11 Jan 2023 13:06
Last Modified:	10 Oct 2023 21:46
Publisher DOI:	10.1177/13505084221150586
ARBOR DOI:	10.24451/arbor.18519
URI:	https://arbor.bfh.ch/id/eprint/18519