TY - JOUR KW - Disability KW - Inclusion KW - Human Rights KW - Ghana KW - Empowerment KW - Employment AU - Grischow JD AB -

This article uses a case study from Ghana to argue that rights-based legal instruments are important but insufficient steps towards securing disability rights in non-western societies. Despite Ghana’s implementation of a Disability Act and ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, a grassroots perspective shows that legislation and the model of legal empowerment will not automatically produce equal access to human rights. The paper will present this argument through a case study of an individual who became disabled in 2008 and struggled for four years to secure his rights to healthcare and employment. I also argue that the case has a wider significance for disability rights in Ghana and beyond.

BT - Disability & Society DO - 10.1080/09687599.2014.982786 IS - 1 LA - eng N2 -

This article uses a case study from Ghana to argue that rights-based legal instruments are important but insufficient steps towards securing disability rights in non-western societies. Despite Ghana’s implementation of a Disability Act and ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, a grassroots perspective shows that legislation and the model of legal empowerment will not automatically produce equal access to human rights. The paper will present this argument through a case study of an individual who became disabled in 2008 and struggled for four years to secure his rights to healthcare and employment. I also argue that the case has a wider significance for disability rights in Ghana and beyond.

PY - 2015 SP - 101 EP - 113 T2 - Disability & Society TI - ‘I nearly lost my work’: chance encounters, legal empowerment and the struggle for disability rights in Ghana VL - 30 SN - 0968-7599 ER -