From exclusion to empowerment: organisational cases of disability-inclusive employment in Thailand

Thailand promotes disability-inclusive employment through multiple laws and policies. In this context, local organisations have created innovative models that integrate social purpose and business. This paper examines three cases of social purpose organisations, illustrating different approaches to addressing the limited employment of people with disabilities. Data sources included interviews with key informants, informal field observations, and a review of publicly available documents. Using institutional work as a theoretical framework, qualitative analyses within and across cases identified themes of formal and informal opportunities and barriers. The findings demonstrated how organisations filled gaps in formal systems while also being ecosystem builders in response to informal cultural barriers.