Disability as The Self-Employment Stimulant for People with Disabilities in Poland And Other Countries

The purpose of this article is to determine the interest of people with disabilities in taking up self-employment and whether their health status and other health conditions such as various types of diseases and their intensity facilitate the decision about undertaking self-employment or remain major barriers in this respect. The research conducted by Ricardo Pagan in thirteen European Union countries, published in 2009, became the inspiration to develop this study and perform the respective research. Seeking the answer to the question of whether the disabled are willing to undertake self-employment on a larger scale than non- disabled people and whether, in this respect, their disability constitutes a barrier or a stimulant was adopted as the basic research problem. Unfortunately, Poland was not included in the research and, therefore, this study and its results may fill in the existing gap. The additional justification for taking up these problems is a significant lapse of time since the publication of Ricardo Pagan's research results. In the context of dynamic changes occurring within the last dozen or so years on the global labour market, it has become an important incentive to address it in this study. Thus, the conducted research is a part of the more extensive global research in the field of self-employment, as well as entrepreneurship of the disabled, allowing better understanding and also popularizing these problems. The article presents a descriptive and comparative analysis based on the studies covering the leading world literature and statistical data supported by the survey results conducted among over 450 self-employed Polish disabled entrepreneurs. The research timeframe covered 2014-2018, due to the significant transformations occurring on Polish labour market and the availability of consistent and revised statistical data.