Rural Economic Development: Worker Cooperatives and Employment of People With Disabilities Part Three

The opportunities for self-empowerment and economic justice found in the worker cooperative structure may be especially relevant for people with disabilities, who as a population tend to experience extraordinarily high rates of unemployment. People with disabilities already successfully engage in a wide range of employment and self-employment situations (Seekins & Arnold, 1996; Shelley, 1999). Employment within a worker cooperative structure carries many benefits for people with disabilities and requires only a few carefully structured adaptations. Benefits include fair wages and an equitable share of profits; authority to manage the business in the best interest of the worker-members; a community-friendly business philosophy; and a tend toward more equitable distribution of income and wealth