Small social enterprises to employ persons with intellectual disabilities outside sheltered workshops

Diakonie de La Tour in Austria created 20 jobs for individuals with disabilities via small enterprises. By 2024, businesses in catering and education fostered inclusivity.

In 2021, Diakonie de La Tour, an NGO in Austria’s southern Carinthia region, started an inclusive small enterprises programme. It provides jobs for people with intellectual or multiple disabilities, integrating them into the social security system with personalized help. By 2024 three businesses in catering and adult education had created 20 jobs. The programme is publicly funded.

Problems Targeted

In Austria people with severe disabilities who are deemed ‘unemployable’ typically work in sheltered workshops and receive only pocket money. As a result, they are co-insured and lack their own social security, such as a pension or health insurance.

Solution, Innovation and Impact

Diakonie de La Tour, a regional non-profit organization associated with the Protestant Christian Church, operates mainly in southern Austria providing social services. In 2021 the organization launched Inklusive Kleinunternehmen (Inclusive Small Enterprises) to employ people with intellectual or multiple disabilities outside the sheltered workshop system. These employees earn fair wages and pay for their own social security, with support during onboarding and beyond. The first inclusive small business, Küche:Waiern, started in 2021 with six participants, followed by Café/Bistro Gernda with eight employees, and Akademie:Inklusiv, an educational academy, with six employees. A total of 20 jobs were created between 2021 and 2024.

Funding, Outlook and Transferability

Inklusive Kleinunternehmen is part of Carinthia’s 2020 plan to implement the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The country state of Carinthia covers all employment and assistance costs, with one assistant for six employees with disabilities. In 2024 two more businesses are planned in the fields of peer counselling and facility management. (Zero Project Awardee 2025)

Pictures

The “gernda“ Café/Bistro employs people with disabilities who are deemed ‘unemployable’.

The “gernda“ Café/Bistro employs people with disabilities who are deemed ‘unemployable’.

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