With a limited number of resources to choose from, finding the right resources for small business owners with disabilities can be difficult. But thanks to a new television channel, accessing the information you need may have become a whole lot easier.
In a partnership with the National Disability Institute (NDI) and Boston Media, LLC, the two companies have launched Disability Owned, a free nationwide business TV channel on Roku’s streaming platform targeted to U.S. business owners and entrepreneurs with disabilities. Through live programming and archived video content, the channel will provide business information, news and resources for aspiring entrepreneurs and the nearly two million business owners in the U.S. with disabilities.
NDI led the launch of this program as a part of their nearly 20-year mission of championing economic empowerment, financial education, asset development and financial stability for all persons with disabilities, bettering the financial futures of people with disabilities and their families.
“National Disability Institute is pleased to partner with Boston Media on this first of its kind endeavor,” said Thomas Foley, NDI executive director. “The Disability Owned streaming channel is an innovative outreach tool that provides practical business information, resources and guidance to entrepreneurs and small business owners with disabilities. This sector saw tremendous growth and expansion during the pandemic and shows no sign of lessening.”
Disability Owned features original TV shows, curated films, webinars, podcasts and profiles on disability-owned businesses and their founders.
Programs cover everything from business management to educational videos—all of which are created from various nonprofit, public and corporate media partners. At the time of writing, there are currently 11 programs on the channel, which can be accessed at any time on the channel’s website. Besides the NDI’s own curated content, including recorded panels from their national conference, organizations such as the Able Account, 2-Gether International and the Small Business Administration all have content featured on Disability Owned
Besides being a unique resource, Boston Media’s CEO Kelvin Boston, who works to stream content surrounding financial media and digital wellness, announced that Disability Owned is the first television channel of its kind to exist.
“Disability Owned is the first national streaming business channel for people with disabilities and will be distributed to more than 300 million U.S. households,” he said.
The channel is free to watch any time on the Roku streaming platform and the Disability Owned website. It will also be available to watch for free in the near future on Apple TV and the Amazon Fire TV streaming platform, along with iOS and Android mobile devices. Disability Owned additionally provides closed captioning on all of their video content. Online closed-captioned videos will require the use of a Chrome browser to be best accessed.
To begin accessing their videos, visit disabilityowned.com/home for more information.
Sources: National Disability Institute, Disability Owned
