Abstract
Ghana has many interventions or systems to eradicate poverty among vulnerable people, especially those with disabilities. Ghana's Parliament launched the Social Protection Program in conformity with the United Nations Convention on the Right of People with Disabilities (UNCRPD) as well as the Disability Law of Ghana. One of these programs is the Social Protection Program, under which rehabilitation and RLG ICT training of People with Disabilities (PWDs) have been implemented in the classroom. The main goal of this program is to educate PWDs, granting them employable skills and thereby enabling them to become independent citizens. This chapter, which is related to one of the recommended topics, “Issues and Challenges of Digital Tools and Applications in the Classroom,” draws on and employs a phenomenological approach to confirm the lack of culturally responsiveness of technology to the Ghanaian disability community. Participants indicated they were disconnected from the program because the technological devices were foreign and not connected to their indigenous culture.
TopBackground
World Report on Disability published by the WHO and World Bank in 2011, the first report of its kind, contained a section devoted to disability and development, emphasizing how “disability is a development issue, because of its bidirectional link to poverty” Grech and Soldatic (2016, p.5). In view of this, most developing countries like Ghana are trying to make life comfortable for their PWDs in diverse ways in the classroom and one method is the Social Protection Program. In every country, the core principle behind any Social Protection policy is to provide or reduce the poverty level of the people in the society which are classified as the most vulnerable group. Although there exist many different definitions of Social Protection, Abebrese (2011), defined Social Protection as “having security in the face of vulnerabilities and contingencies, it is having access to health care and it is about working in safety” (p. 3). Social Protection is an important strategy to protect people from chronic poverty, risks, and disasters. In other words, as stated by Corsino (1985), “it involves attempts by government to ameliorate social problems through the provision of basic goods and services” (p. 244). Social protection also provides financial support for people who are not able to work for a limited duration because of maternity or illness, and income security for residents in old age and with disabilities.
Since its independence in 1957, Ghana has regarded formal education as a fundamental human right for all its citizens, and it has enshrined this right in the legal framework of education that was established in the 1961 Education Act. The IE Policy in the Ghanaian context is expected to provide a platform for addressing the varied educational needs of all Ghanaians of school age using the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework. All these definitions stressed the fact that, Ghana is committed to providing equal and equitable education for its citizens, therefore the Social Protection is about getting rid of poverty in the life of the vulnerable. The question remains at to whether PWDs were envisioned as potential beneficiaries of these policies in Ghana.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Vermont Center for Independent Living (VCIL): A non-governmental organization in Vermont.
Universal Design for Learning (UDL): An educational framework that guides the development of flexible learning environment for all children with disabilities.
Information Communication and Technology (ICT): An extensional term that stresses the role of unified communication and the integration of telecommunication.
International Labor Organization (ILO): A United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social justice and promote decent work by setting international labor standards.
People With Disabilities (PWDs): A group of Persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairment.
Roland-Luke Gambire (RLG): A name of a person which is assigned to a project.
Inclusive Education Policy (IE): A school system which embraces parity, diversity and equity in teaching, learning and assessing students regardless of any challenges of the students.
United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities: ( UNCRPD): Article 26 of the Convention that appropriate measures to support people with disabilities to attain full inclusion and participation.