Self-Employment Policies

Abstract

In 1991—1992, the Research and Training Center on Rural Rehabilitation (RTC: Rural) evaluated 45 state vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies' policies and procedures regarding self-employment for people with disabilities. Based on this analysis, researchers developed and broadly disseminated a model VR self-employment policy. In 2002, RTC: Rural investigated state policies again to see how they had changed. This article reports the results of that investigation. Overall, current policies are much more positive toward self-employment than previous ones. The number of model policy components addressed has increased from an average of 3.7 components to an average of 6.6 components. Many agencies have developed self-employment programs and published manuals specifically for counselors. The article concludes with policy recommendations and suggests areas for future research.