“To Live or Not to Live”: The Silent Voices of Adolescents with Disabilities in Ghana

Florence Naab, Mary A. Asirifi, Charles Ampong Adjei (), Josephine M. Kyei, William Menkah, Hellen Gateri, Emilene Riesdorfer, Reyna Parikh and Elizabeth Burgess-Pinto
Additional contact information
Florence Naab: School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Ghana, Accra P.O. Box LG 43, Ghana
Mary A. Asirifi: Faculty of Nursing, MacEwan University, Edmonton, AB T5J 4S2, Canada
Charles Ampong Adjei: School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Ghana, Accra P.O. Box LG 43, Ghana
Josephine M. Kyei: School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Ghana, Accra P.O. Box LG 43, Ghana
William Menkah: School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Ghana, Accra P.O. Box LG 43, Ghana
Hellen Gateri: School of Social Work, Faculty of Health and Community Studies, MacEwan University, Edmonton, AB T5J 4S2, Canada
Emilene Riesdorfer: Faculty of Nursing, MacEwan University, Edmonton, AB T5J 4S2, Canada
Reyna Parikh: Faculty of Nursing, MacEwan University, Edmonton, AB T5J 4S2, Canada
Elizabeth Burgess-Pinto: Faculty of Nursing, MacEwan University, Edmonton, AB T5J 4S2, Canada

Disabilities, 2025, vol. 5, issue 3, 1-13

Abstract: About 8% of Ghanaians, including adolescents, have various types of disabilities. Although many legal and constitutional protections for people with disabilities, including adolescents, exist in Ghana, it is widely known that these persons face a variety of psychosocial issues. Several factors have been identified as contributing to the unremitting marginalisation of people with disabilities in general, but the extent to which these can be generalised to adolescents with disabilities is unknown. This study, therefore, sought to document the determinants, manifestations, and consequences of disability-related stigma among differently abled adolescents in three special schools in northern, middle, and southern Ghana. An exploratory descriptive qualitative design was used. Overall, 54 participants were purposively selected for a semi-structured interview and focus group discussions. Braun and Clarke’s procedure for thematic analysis was followed. The findings showed a variety of stigmatising experiences by adolescents with disabilities in their sociocultural context. More broadly, the cause of disability was linked to the ramifications of parental sins against the gods, being a descendant of river gods, and the consequences of bewitchment/curses by family members. Others included the perceived transmissibility of the disability and disability as a visible condition. Stigma manifested in the form of pejorative labelling, ableism, and social exclusion. The consequences of this stigma included negative psychological and emotional effects (i.e., depression, low self-esteem, and a lack of confidence) and suicidal ideation. There is an urgent need for stigma reduction interventions for adolescents with disabilities in Ghana as part of an effort to improve their wellbeing.

Keywords: disability-related stigma; adolescents; Ghana (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2673-7272/5/3/64/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2673-7272/5/3/64/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jdisab:v:5:y:2025:i:3:p:64-:d:1703236

Access Statistics for this article

Disabilities is currently edited by Ms. Cici Zhou

More articles in Disabilities from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().