Empowering the Differently-abled as Successful Print Entrepreneurs
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Date
2013
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Abstract
With the increasing initiatives taken globally towards making the differently-abled persons employable, several
seetors are redefining certain job positions to accommodate them. Taking this further, government organisations
and NGOs train them to become entrepreneurs. Several disabled entrepreneurs have made a global mark.
Steve Hawkins who uis almost disabled owning to a Motor Neuron disease is a scientist. Visually impaired
Jim Stovall o f UK, an author cum entrepreneur makes movies and TV shows. Kevin Dasilva is a deaf entrepreneur
in the marketing business. Entrepreneurial excellence award winners include Mark, an orthopedic, and Rob
Smith, a wheelchair user. The Print Industiy being a conglomerate requires different skill sets ranging from
designing process involving aesthetic skills but sedentary; to binding and packaging which are monotonous
but requires mobility. This plethora o f skills can match different categories o f persons with disabilities. The
American Publishing House in the United States, which is more than a century old, is being operated by
disabled entrepreneurs. In India, not much emphasis has been givm to promote disabled persons as entrepreneurs
in the Print sector though the industry is a promising avenue for them. This paper focuses on hoio printing
technology forms a promising sector for the disabled individuals who aspire to become entrepreneurs. The
authors map the characteristics o f specific classes of disability to specific skills required for the jobs in the
Print industry. With this mapping a multi-level, hierarchical business model to empower the disabled persons,
specifically women, to become an entrepreneur in specific domains in the Print Industry, is proposed.