Disability Rights and Inclusiveness in Africa

JEFF D. GRISCHOW is Associate Professor, Department of History, Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada and author of Shaping Tradition : Civil Society, Community and Development in Colonial Northern Ghana, 1899-1957 (2006). MAGNUS MFOAFO-M'CARTHY is Associate Professor, Department of Social Work, Wilfrid Laurier University, and has over 15 years of social work practice experience in New York, British Columbia and Ontario. Hehas published articles in various journals, including International Journal for Equity in Health and International Journal of Mental Health. Mikyas Abera (PhD) is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Gondaer. His research interests include education, urbanization, psychosocial rehabilitation, and gender, among others. Currently, Dr. Abera manages the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program at the University of Gondar, a scholarship program for talented east African youth with disabilities. Charlotte Capri is a South African clinical psychologist whose energy for advocacy is driven by her political science background. As a clinician-researcher in Intellectual Disability, she dedicates her career to the needs of the Western Cape Department of Health (DoH) and University of Cape Town (UCT). She has worked clinically in designated psychiatric public health Intellectual Disability settings since 2010; and attends to Intellectual Disability research, as well as academic, institutional service and teaching and training responsibilities for the Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health (UCT). Tsitsi Chataika is a disability studies and inclusive education Associate Professor and consultant. She is the Chairperson of the Educational Foundations Department, University of Zimbabwe. Tsitsi has several publications including the 2019 Outstanding Taylor and Francis (Routledge) Handbook Award Winner in the Social Sciences, The Routledge Handbook of Disability Activism. Billian Otundo is a Lecturer at Moi University, Kenya. She holds PhD in English Linguistics from the University of Bayreuth, Germany. In 2019, she completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship as a collaborative researcher of Moi University, Kenya, and Radboud University and Leiden University, The Netherlands. Herbert Muyinda is a Senior Lecturer at the Child Health and Development Centre, Makerere University. Muyinda's research centers on disability, mental illness, HIV and AIDS, and TB. Susan Reynolds Whyte is a Professor at the Department of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen, who carries out research in East Africa on efforts to secure well-being. Her publications deal with the management of misfortune, gender, generation, changing health care systems, disability, social lives of medicines, legacies of violence, HIV and other chronic conditions. Wisdom Kwadwo Mprah is a Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Disability and Rehabilitation Studies, Department of Health Promotion and Disability Studies, School of Public Health, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. He holds a Diploma in Education, Bachelor of Arts (Geography), and Mphil (Geography) from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana, and PhD (Disability Studies) from the University of Illinois at Chicago, USA. Juventus Duorinaah is the Executive Director of the Ghana National Association of the Deaf. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Ghana, Master of Law Degree from Cardiff School of Law and Politics, and is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Law Degree at the University of Ghana. Augustina Naami is a Lecturer at the University of Ghana. She holds a BA degree in Economics from the University of Ghana, Master's and PhD in Social Work from the Universities of Chicago and Utah respectively. Her research interests include disability, and the intersection of vulnerabilities and social policy. Joana Okine is a Graduate Assistant with the Social Work Department, University of Ghana. She holds a BA in Social Work with Sociology and an MPhil in Social Work both from the University of Ghana. Her research interests are disability, care-leaving and health-related issues. Maxwell Peprah Opoku is a Ghanaian by birth and received his first degree in Political Science, second in Disability, Rehabilitation and Development, from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. He also holds a Master's degree in Governance and Regional Integration from Pan African University, Cameroon. Recently, he has completed his PhD in Education at the University of Tasmania, Australia, also working as a Lecturer in Inclusive Practices in Educational Settings and human development. Bernard Nsaidzedze Sakah is a Cameroonian who holds a PhD and MSc in Governance and Regional Integration from Pan African University. He also holds a Bachelor of Science in Sociology and Anthropology from University of Buea, all from Cameroon. His research interests include governance, education, human rights, and education. He has served as a volunteer with many NGOs and is currently the managing director of Big Steps Outreach Network - Cameroon. Elvis Imafidon lectures at the Department of Religions and Philosophies, School of History, Religions and Philosophies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He is the author of African Philosophy and the Otherness of Albinism (Routledge 2019). Lincoln Hlatywayo is a disability studies and inclusive education Associate Professor. He is also a specialist in sign language training and development, and a disability consultant and has been engaged by various organisations and Ministries in Zimbabwe.