Disability Entrepreneurship Programme Raises Questions...Is The System Ready To Meet People Where They Are?

A new all-island entrepreneurship programme for disabled people has opened for applications in Northern Ireland. But for many, structural access and support questions remain unanswered.

Recently, a new business support programme for people with disabilities was announced for Northern Ireland. It’s the first time the Self-Employment for Persons with Disabilities Programme, developed and delivered by TU Dublin, has been made available here, thanks to a collaboration with the Department for the Economy, Go Succeed, and Disability Action.

On the surface, it’s a great story. A fully funded, island-wide initiative designed to help disabled people develop their business ideas, with accredited learning, mentoring, and guest speakers. And I genuinely welcome it.

In Northern Ireland alone, over 430,000 people report living with a limiting long-term condition or disability – that’s around 1 in 4 adults. And yet, disabled entrepreneurs remain dramatically underrepresented in the business world.

As someone who has navigated entrepreneurship while living with ADHD and chronic illness, I understand how invisible barriers can derail even the most promising ideas. It’s not a lack of ambition, but often a lack of support at the right moments.

I’ve spent years advocating for entrepreneurs who don’t fit the usual mould – those with ADHD, chronic illness, neurodivergence, or lived experience of exclusion. I couldn’t help but feel a little unsettled with this announcement.

Although the language in this new programme is positive, in my opinion the setup reveals a familiar pattern: well-meaning initiatives that still ask disabled people to shape themselves to systems not designed for them.

I wonder, though, was there a bit of naivety on my part. I saw ministerial engagement, PR, photocall and a big announcement and thought “oh my God, this is it! They’ve got something for disabled people, how can I help?” Then finding out only 20 people will have access was disappointing – the fanfare didn’t really seem proportional when I look at the other programmes going on around the country to support disenfranchised people access entrepreneurial support – no ministerial photocall for them…

Access Begins With Usability

The programme is fully online. That might sound inclusive at first glance – but only if you already have a compatible device, strong internet, and the digital literacy to navigate virtual learning environments.

There’s no detail on how the platform accommodates users who are blind, Deaf, or who use screen readers or voice recognition tools. There’s no mention of captioning, BSL interpretation, or whether the content is available in alternative formats.

And when I tried to access the application form myself, I hit a wall. It’s a Microsoft Form, but unless you have a Microsoft account – or in some cases, a school or business login – it either won’t open or throws up blank screens. I’ve had others test it, and several ran into the same issue.

That’s a basic accessibility oversight that immediately excludes people before they’ve even had a chance to apply.

This isn’t a niche problem. Recent UK data shows 1 in 5 disabled adults struggle to use digital services due to design inaccessibility – and that figure climbs to nearly 30% among people with visual impairments.

Timings And Assumptions Exclude More Than You Think

Lectures run weekly from 11am–1pm for 12 weeks (I’m not even going to comment on the language of “lectures”…who wants to be lectured these days…). That might suit some, but not those who work mornings, attend medical appointments, or need longer start-up routines due to fatigue, care duties or mobility issues.

It also assumes a fixed window of availability, with no clear support for those who need asynchronous learning or may not be at their best in the middle of the day.

To be fair, the course blurb does say recordings and extra resources will be made available – but again, no information on how accessible that content will be, or whether it can be easily navigated using assistive technology.

Complex Questions At The Start Of The Journey

Applicants are asked to submit a 500-word written, video or audio summary of their business idea, answering quite technical questions like:

What problem is your product/service solving?
Why is it better than what’s already available?

Now, for many aspiring entrepreneurs, particularly those who are neurodivergent, those are tough questions to articulate in the early stages. Not because they don’t know the answers but rather the answers might be clear in their head, but getting them down coherently can often be a huge task. That doesn’t mean they’re not viable or visionary business owners.

Many disabled people suffer from low confidence, imposter syndrome, or learned helplessness – not because they lack skills or motivation, but because they’ve spent their lives navigating systems that aren’t designed for them. That takes a toll. A big one. And it’s often invisible until it affects application forms, business planning, and ability to “sell” an idea.

In fact, according to Scope, over half of disabled adults report a loss of confidence from navigating inaccessible systems. Many also speak of deep-rooted imposter syndrome – a factor rarely considered in mainstream business support initiatives.

I think some work around the narrative of who this programme was actually meant for. There’s no problem saying you only want people of a certain intellect or specific capability but you can’t announce a wide-sweeping programme that will exclude so many at the beginning.

Phone Interviews: A Quiet Barrier

Let’s not forget the final stage of the application: a telephone interview.

That might seem harmless, but for many autistic people, or those with sensory processing conditions or severe anxiety, phone calls are not just inconvenient – they’re completely inaccessible. There’s no indication that email interviews or alternative formats will be offered.

Where’s The Lived Experience In Mentoring?

The programme mentions that each participant will get a business mentor. But there’s no detail on who these mentors are or what kind of disability awareness training they’ve received.

Are they experts in entrepreneurship alone, or do they understand the unique systemic, emotional, and logistical barriers faced by disabled people navigating business ownership?

Supporting disabled entrepreneurs isn’t just about adapting a curriculum – it’s about understanding what starting and running a business really looks like when your body, brain, or environment adds extra friction to every step.

Not Everyone Needs Another Course

Some disabled entrepreneurs, particularly those with ADHD, don’t need another programme or module. They need access to timely diagnosis. They need support getting medication.

I know, I can hear you saying “what’s that got to do with the Department for the Economy? Everything…for many neurodivergent entrepreneurs, access to assessments, diagnosis and medication can change the entire trajectory of their economic standing in society. For many, it’s the difference between a failed business and a successful business, being able to be employed and not.

Important to note, this is not the case for every person with ADHD, but it’s certainly a common thread I see in the entrepreneurial world. These are the critical access points that determine whether someone can function at a level that allows their creativity, focus, or entrepreneurial drive to thrive.

Too often we offer content without context – but what’s really needed is structural support: the kind that understands how an unmedicated ADHD brain, for instance, can have world-changing ideas but still struggle to fill in a basic form or remember deadlines.

Inclusivity Can’t Be One-Size-Fits-All

Oh look, there’s an elephant! We need to talk about something difficult – the uncomfortable irony that sometimes, programmes designed to support disabled people can still be inaccessible. It’s not always due to a lack of goodwill, but rather a lack of detailed consideration.

True inclusivity cannot rely on sweeping, one-size-fits-all solutions. In order to be genuinely inclusive, we must take into account the individual needs and lived experiences of people across all disability spectrums – visible and invisible, physical and cognitive.

Yes, I understand the logistical, financial, and practical challenges that come with this kind of tailored approach. But failing to acknowledge individual needs doesn’t just fall short – it can actually reinforce the very barriers disabled people are trying to overcome.

When a disabled person attempts to engage with a programme specifically designed for them, only to find that it doesn’t accommodate their particular disability, it doesn’t just exclude – it alienates. It reminds them, once again, that even in spaces supposedly built with them in mind, they are still asked to adjust, to compromise, or to go without.

That’s not equity. That’s a different kind of exclusion. And if we’re truly serious about building accessible systems, we have to start with that reality.

It’s Not The Only Show In Town…

One of the things I did take a little umbrage with was the idea that the programme is the idea this was the “only customised entrepreneurship programme for people with disabilities available in Ireland” according to Economy Minister Dr Caoimhe Archibald.

That’s wholly incorrect and, to be honest, very short-sighted given the immense amount of work being done by Belfast City Council in this area through my good friend Katie Matthews, an inclusive entrepreneurship trainer, mentor and advocate and the founder of Mind Tribe UK and The Inclusify Project.

Belfast City Council, since July 2022 have funded the Inclusive Enterprise Pathway, a programme delivered by Katie that supports disabled and marginalised individuals to explore, develop, and progress business ideas.

Katie, in collaboration with BCC, has carefully crafted a programme that is trauma-informed, intersectional, uses a co-designed approach, and entirely delivered by Katie, a single individual with lived experience of disability, mental illness, bankruptcy and building multiple organisations as a young, female entrepreneur with travelling-community heritage.

Speaking of the new programme, Katie said: “I warmly welcome the launch of TU Dublin’s new All-Island entrepreneurship course for disabled individuals.

“Any initiative that champions inclusion, self-employment, and economic empowerment for people with disabilities is a positive development.

“However, it is important to acknowledge that this is not the only programme of its kind currently operating on the island of Ireland.”

Over the past 21 months, Katie’s programme has achieved:

450 hours of tailored 1-1 mentoring to 40 individuals, with over 90% of mentees starting a trading business within 6 months of programme completion
137 virtual workshops, engaging 263 unique attendees
36 community-led in-house workshops
22 guest speakers with lived experience and peer-led insight
1,138 digital achievement badges issued for skills progression
9 stakeholder engagement events, reaching 150+ cross-sector participants
4 open-access drop-in clinics for advice and informal support
Engagement with over 7,000 individuals through digital outreach, workshops, and events

We Need To Map The Ecosystem – Not Build It In Pieces

The fact that a ministerial office did not know about a massive Belfast City Council project in this very space simply underpins the major gap in our current approach – that there is no cohesive, mapped ecosystem of support for disabled entrepreneurs in Northern Ireland.

Where do you go if you have an idea but no diagnosis of your disability and therefore no access to specialised support?
Who helps you figure out whether you need mentoring, funding, or access adjustments?
Which organisations are trained to deal with layered challenges – from trauma, housing instability, poverty, and education gaps – that often come hand-in-hand with disability?

We need a joined-up system. One that meets people where they are and helps them find the right support at the right time. Not just a single, selective programme that risks only reaching those who are already halfway up the ladder.

It’s A Good Start – But Not The Full Solution

Let me be very clear – I do welcome this programme wholeheartedly. Anything that opens up space for disabled people to explore entrepreneurship is a positive step. And with TU Dublin, AIB, and Disability Action involved, there’s clearly goodwill, expertise, knowledge and collaboration behind it.

Combined with other programmes such as Go Succeed or local enterprise support, it could offer a strong foundation for some participants. But it needs to be the start of a wider conversation, not the end point.

We don’t just need more programmes for disabled people. We need systems with disabled people, co-created from the ground up – by those who’ve lived it, not just those designing around it.

I don’t believe we need to keep asking people to adapt to systems that weren’t built for them. I want to be part of building systems that adapt to people.

We need more holistic, adaptive, responsive approaches that don’t just ask disabled people to fit in, but actively redesign the system to include them from the start.

We need to stop celebrating access that still comes with caveats. And most of all, we need to talk directly to disabled entrepreneurs, not just about them, when shaping the policies and programmes meant to support their success.

Because real inclusion isn’t a form. It’s a conversation.

If we want truly inclusive entrepreneurship in Northern Ireland, we need to keep asking hard questions. This won’t be the last time I raise them – and I hope it won’t be the last time we explore them together.

Katie added: “In parallel to the Belfast City Council programme, The Mind Tribe UK also runs the Inclusify Project, a values-led, disability-informed programme that offers holistic, flexible, and tailored enterprise support for people facing complex barriers, including neurodivergence, mental illness, trauma, poverty, and isolation.

“Unlike fixed-format or academically structured programmes, Inclusify meets people where they are and co-designs tailored, holistic, wraparound and trauma-informed support, whether they’re exploring an idea, restarting after burnout, or seeking peer-led support to build confidence.

“While TU Dublin’s initiative brings welcome academic credibility to disabled entrepreneurship, it is vital to recognise that many people do not fit traditional eligibility criteria, including those who are already trading informally or at micro-scale, need more time or flexibility before formalising a business idea and/or face barriers to engaging with formal education or assessment-based programmes.

“We invite policymakers, funders, and potential participants to view the full landscape of inclusive enterprise support across the island, and to uplift the community-rooted, lived experience-led models that are already delivering meaningful change, often with minimal resources and maximum impact.”

Why I Keep Showing Up

I’ve spent a long time walking the line between being the person who asks the awkward questions and the one who builds the bridges afterwards. Over the years, I’ve sat across from hundreds of entrepreneurs – some full of fire but held back by circumstance, others barely holding on because the world wasn’t built with them in mind. And I’ve been both of those people myself.

Living with ADHD, navigating chronic illness, rebuilding after burnout, trauma, and business loss – I’ve seen first-hand how invisible barriers can wear you down. And yet, time and again, I’ve watched people rise when they are met with the right support, at the right time, from the right people. That’s what I believe entrepreneurship can do. Not save us – but give us a space to reshape our future on our own terms.

For that to happen, we need to stop designing programmes that expect people to adapt to the system. We need systems that adapt to people. That means asking better questions, allowing more flexible pathways, acknowledging nuance, and letting lived experience take the lead.

It means recognising that even within a shared identity like “disabled entrepreneur,” no two people will need the same kind of support – and we cannot keep calling programmes inclusive if they only serve the most accessible within the minority.

I mentor because I believe in potential, not perfection. I advocate because I know how isolating it can be to feel like you’re always too much or not enough. And I keep writing, speaking out, and showing up because I believe entrepreneurship should be open to everyone – not just those who can survive the current systems.

If you’re reading this and something resonated – maybe you’ve been struggling to access support, or maybe you’re building a programme and want to do it better – I’m here.

If you’re tasked with designing a system, supporting disabled and neurodivergent entrepreneurs but hitting roadblocks or want to develop a more nuanced approach – I’m here.