ATLANTA -- The entrepreneurs who arrived for the awards ceremony in a vast Cobb County ballroom wore tuxedos and gowns, suits and vibrant colors. One woman sported an eye patch with a sparkly skull and cross bones, like a glam pirate.

Some rolled in on wheelchairs, relied on canes, or covered their feeding tubes with their evening wear.

Invited by a Georgia-based nonprofit, they came here from around the nation. Beyond starting businesses from scratch, they had something else in common: All have disabilities.

“Entrepreneurship is tough,” said 38-year-old Alvaro Silberstein, after wheeling up on the stage, pushed by his fellow business co-founder. “You need to overcome challenges. You need to be resilient. And I think people with disabilities have lived that all of our lives.”

At 18 years old he was paralyzed from the waist down after a car accident. He can’t walk or control his fingers, but he earned an MBA. And with friend Camilo Navarro, he founded Wheel the World, raising $10 million for a site that helps people with disabilities book travel, from hotels to things to do, that meet their specific accessibility needs.

The idea stemmed from Silberstein’s struggles to plan his own trip to a national park in Patagonia. Silberstein, who lives in Berkeley, California, said the five-year-old company now has a 45-person staff, helps with about 6,000 travel bookings and expects to become cash flow positive next year.

“I am lucky I’m doing this,” he said. “I love what I do. I love the problem we are solving.”

People who are disabled can face extra hurdles beyond the already daunting challenges of starting a business and trying to grow it to profitability, work that often leads to brutal work hours.

Jacqueline Child, who has a number chronic illnesses that have led to disabilities, said she regularly grapples with physical pain and intense fatigue.

Child, who lives in Denver, launched a dating app for the disabled and chronically ill community. She said she has endured more than 40 surgeries because of her illnesses. She relies on a feeding tube and has to build her business around frequent medical visits and the need to take a nap in the middle of the day.

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