BU Research Blog

The 13th Annual Postgraduate Research Conference, hosted by the Doctoral College.

Samantha Everard (MRes, FHSS) with this poster entitled: How do people with multiple disabilities experience, engage with and participate in self-employment support.

Click the poster below to enlarge.

“Seeing every individual for their ability, especially those with hidden impairments, makes good business sense” (Kirby, 2014a), but when a person with multiple disabilities decides to experience, engage with and participate in self-employment support, there is currently a lack of clarity and guidance to meet the individual needs of disabled people wanting to engage in self-employment.  An internet search will bring up numerous results with websites and organisations offering generalised support, but there is very limited information offering a person-centric service. This research aims to identify gaps within the general self-employment support model and work towards a more cohesive level of accessible information, advice, guidance and resources. My research is focussed on gathering qualitative data through one-to-one interviews using Photovoice as this allows the participants with multiple disabilities to openly engage with the topic and tell stories about their experiences in their own individual ways.

You can view the full poster exhibition and pre-recorded presentations on the conference webpage.

If this research has inspired you and you’d like to explore applying for a research degree please visit the postgraduate research web pages or contact the Doctoral College dedicated admissions team.