Disability and Poverty: A Review on Social Entrepreneurship Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities in Malaysia

Abstract

Disability is a phenomenon, which naturally occurs in societies. Just as the able-bodied people, disabled people are part of the society and they form a valuable group, work and participate in economic activities. However, issues on employment among people with disabilities (PWDs), which are viewed as social issues, are still not adequately dealt with even though these issues have long been debated, and are widely discussed. Multiple solutions have been proposed to address these issues but still, members of this group face various obstacles or difficulties in joining the job market. One of the solutions that are seen viable in helping this segment of the community is through social entrepreneurship (SE), which could possibly provide an opportunity to create employment for them. It is anticipated that SE will change the landscape of people with disabilities, and at the same time encourages entrepreneurs with disabilities to participate in economic activities. The urgent call for the implementation of SE is due to the fact that the number of individuals and the unemployment rate among PWDs are now increasing in Malaysia. Thus, this paper elaborates on how SE can be treated as a mechanism in overcoming issues related to PWDs employability in the Malaysian context. This is consistent with the Malaysian Plan of Action for People with Disabilities 2016-2022, which describes the equal rights of PWDs to education, employment, and cultural life; the rights to own and inherit property, not to be discriminated against in marriage, children, and not involving them as unwilling subjects in a medical experiment. The paper provides an opportunity for knowledge sharing on how Malaysia should move forward towards implementing SE program for PWDs.