Persons With Disability And Leadership: Exploring Notions, Norms, Customs And Practices In Ghana

Abstract

Disability ordinarily connotes negativity. The reviewed literature showed that persons with disability experience discrimination and exclusion. Yet, there are persons with disability who have defied both their disability and its social construction into leadership positions whose narratives remain less documented. Most studies on disability had been done with a little historical cultural perspective. This work sought to explore the construction of disability along leadership of two illustrative cultures in Ghana and document the life stories of the persons with disability in leadership. The study also assessed the PWD Act, 2006 (Act 715). The Life Course, Modernisation, Social Constructionist and Human Capabilities theories undergirded the study. Critical ethnography, narrative and document review designs from a qualitative research approach were adopted for the study. A purposive sampling procedure was used to select 11 participants for the study. Indepth-interviews and key informant interview guides were employed as methods and instruments respectively for data collection. Data were analysed by content (critical discourse) analysis, life and document reviews. The study found; ambivalent cultural constructions of disability in the measure of war-like leadership requirements; disability is not a taboo but a competitive disadvantage; real impediments for defiant PWD leaders who rejected sympathy but demanded respect into leadership; gains despite failings of Act 715. It is recommended that Parliament and the Executive review the Act with cultural inputs while ensuring enforcement and the creation of a Disability Fund. The study offers a conceptual framework, ethnographic and empirical contributions from deep-seated cultural misconceptions in Africa within the development discourse for the inclusion of persons with disability.