Being blind, being exceptional: work integration, social entrepreneurship and the reimagination of blind potential in Nepal

Abstract

In this article, I investigate how social enterprises identify the talents of groups of disabled people and match them to a market demand. Through the study of a blind massage enterprise in Nepal, I undo the workings of an ambivalent form of entrepreneurship that presents disabled people as gifted. I explore shifts that evolve from the selective inclusion of individuals based on stereotyped qualities associated with their bodily condition – in this case, blindness and an exceptional sense of touch. While the therapists cultivated tropes of overcoming, they also used their elevated social position to engage in new forms of imagining that transcended negative framings of blind people in Nepal. The case invites a nuanced critique of selective integration that considers how individuals redistribute their gained advantages at a collective level. My research produces knowledge on inclusive employment in the Global South, illustrating how entrepreneurial interventions impact on perceptions of disability.

Points of Interest

• Across the world, entrepreneurs develop business models to integrate disabled people into work. This article presents insights into a disability integration enterprise in Nepal that trains and employs blind massage therapists.

• The article examines the effects of integration through markets, with a focus on how disabled workers themselves make sense of their integrated position.

• Therapists developed a perception of being distinct from other blind Nepalis, who they associated with passivity and inactivity, while also using their role as spokespersons to engage in new forms of collective imagining that dissolved distinctions between “blind” and “sighted”.

• The research shows that social entrepreneurial approaches entail the risk of reducing disability to an asset and of reinforcing exclusive ideals, but also create spaces for alternative social positionings for disabled people.

Keywords:

• Anthropology of disability
• blindness
• work integration
• inclusion
• neoliberalism
• social enterprise

Acknowledgements

I owe gratitude to therapists and founders of the Magic Fingers enterprise, who shared their memories, views and hopes with me. I thank my colleagues and anonymous reviewers for providing provocative feedback, and Matt Fennessy and Lesley Branagan for their language editing services.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

The research has received support from the Thyssen Foundation and the German Academic Research Foundation.