Overcoming barriers for people with disabilities participating in income-generating activities: A proposed development framework

BACKGROUND: People with disabilities in sheltered workshops are disempowered and face many barriers, adversely affecting their income-generating activities and weakening their competitiveness in the labour market. There is limited evidence on how to overcome these barriers. OBJECTIVES: This paper seeks to propose a framework to overcome the barriers experienced by people with disabilities participating in income-generating activities in a sheltered workshop. METHOD: The qualitative exploratory single case study was done with observations and semi-structured interviews as data collection methods. Purposive sampling was used to select 24 participants between ages 22 and 52 years, and content analysis was done of transcribed interviews. Community-based rehabilitation (CBR) guidelines were used to develop the framework. RESULTS: A proposed framework was developed that outlined intervention strategies to address the barriers experienced by sheltered workshop participants to promote increased participation of people with disabilities in income-generation activities, thereby improving their quality of life. CONCLUSION: The participation of people with disabilities in income-generating activities is hindered by several barriers. However, the proposed framework overcomes the barriers to effective participation in income-generating activities. CONTRIBUTION: People with disabilities will benefit from this framework as it will address their challenges and needs for empowerment. It would also inform stakeholders involved about these challenges and strategies.