Jo Viney from Phillip Island is one of 15 Victorian business owners finding her feet in industry in part thanks to a program designed to support entrepreneurs with disabilities.
Key points:
- The Good Incubator program is designed to help people with a disability start their own businesses
- Phillip Island resident Jo Viney says the program helped her when she set up her own design studio
- People with a disability have higher unemployment rates but are also more likely to be self-employed
The Good Incubator program, which started in June and concludes later this month, partnered participants with business mentor Tricia Malowney who has helped them as they develop their businesses.
Ms Viney, who has autism, opened an interior design studio in Cowes earlier this year which specialises in designs for people with disabilities or with sensory processing needs.
She said taking part in the program had been an amazing experience which helped helped her refine her business plan.
"That that sense of community has made a really big difference to my confidence levels as well."
More likely to be self-employed
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, people with a disability are more than twice as likely to be unemployed.
But Ms Malowney said they are also much more likely to be entrepreneurs.
Supplied
)The program, delivered by social enterprise Impact Co, featured entrepreneurs with a range of business ideas including a job seeker service for women and accessible rock climbing.
It was meant to be delivered face-to-face, but the coronavirus pandemic meant it had to be delivered completely online.
Ms Malowney said the changes required by the pandemic play to the natural strengths of people with a disability.
Disability as a superpower
Ms Viney did not find out she had autism until last year and describes her diagnosis as a "light bulb moment".
"I've got a freedom within myself. It's not a disability. So I actually say that autism is my superpower," she said.
"It allows me to think outside of the box in terms of design."
Ms Viney said her autism helps inform the work she does with clients who are differently abled.
"There is a blanket statement that says … 'if you're decorating for autistics, you need to decorate in pale greens, pale blues, because they're really calming'," she said.
"But what I found is that's just a blanket statement that people make and it does not take into consideration people's individual relationships with colour."
Functional but still looks good
Mark Copland is an amputee who asked Ms Viney to redesign his bathroom in a way which makes it accessible but aesthetically pleasing.
He said as he gets older it was getting harder to access his shower, but wanted to avoid a design which looked "clinical" by simply adding accessibility handles.
He asked Ms Viney to help.
ABC Gippsland: Jarrod Whittaker
)Ms Viney said many designs for people with a physical disability followed the appropriate standings but could end up looking "sterile".
"We're trying to bring the warmth, and Mark's individual aesthetic, into that design with his bathroom."
Source: ABC