Factors Influencing Parents' Decisions to Create a Business for Their Adult Child With Intellectual Disability.
Parents start businesses for their adult kids with ID when schools and adult services drop the ball on work preparation.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Zwiya et al. (2023) talked with parents who started their own business to employ an adult son or daughter with intellectual disability.
The team asked open questions about why the parents took this big step. They coded the answers into themes.
What they found
Four themes came up again and again. Parents pointed to past school experiences, hopes for real work, need for special supports, and cheers from friends or other families.
In short, bad school memories plus lack of good job help pushed parents to create the business themselves.
How this fits with other research
Hsu-Hu et al. (2013) saw the same push from schools. They found that high schools which gave career counseling and called employers doubled the odds that autistic graduates got jobs. T et al. show what happens when schools do not do this: parents invent their own fix.
Adelson et al. (2024) prove parents can wear the trainer hat. They taught moms and dads to deliver ABA at home and the kids made big gains. T et al. stretch that idea further—parents can also run the whole workplace.
Amore et al. (2011) add a warning. Caregiver burden jumps when services are hard to get. Creating a business may look like a success story, but it can also be a red flag that the adult still lacks enough formal support.
Why it matters
If you serve adults with ID, ask parents about past school jobs programs and current work options. When the story is full of gaps, bring in vocational rehab or supported employment before stress drives the family to launch a company they may not want to run. Your referral can lighten their load and still land the adult in real work.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Obtaining and maintaining work can be a challenge for many people with intellectual disability (ID) and parents can play an integral role in supporting their child to secure employment. The purpose of this qualitative research study was to understand factors that influence parents' decisions to create a business for their adult child with ID. Nine parents were identified through purposeful and snowball sampling. Parents participated in individual interviews and data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Our findings suggest that school experiences, expectations for work, presence of specialized support, and encouragement and suggestions from others influenced parents' decisions to create a business. In light of the findings, we discuss how parents' previous experiences and responsiveness influenced the creation of the business.
Intellectual and developmental disabilities, 2023 · doi:10.1352/1934-9556-61.3.224