Employment Opportunities for the Visually Impaired in Ghana

Abstract

This survey study examined current employment status of visually impaired individuals in Ghana. It looked at some of the factors that militate against the successful employment and sustainability of individuals with visual impairment in the country. It reviewed some policies that relate to employment of persons with disability in general and how these policies translate to practical employment opportunities for the visually impaired in the country. Some members of four associations for and of the Blind in Ghana namely, the Ghana Society for the Blind, Ghana Association of the Blind, Ghana Blind Teachers Association, The Ghana Federation of the Disabled, 26 blind teachers in two Special Schools, 4 visually impaired retirees, 5 visually impaired beggars in Accra and 2 self-employed visually impaired were involved in the study. Both purposive and convenient sampling techniques were used in the selection of the sample size. A sixitem open-ended questionnaire in Braille and semi-structured interview guide were used to collect data and the analysis was done using both interpretive and verbatim expression methods. The findings of the study have revealed that access to job information is not an easy task for the visually impaired largely due to the absence of newspapers in Braille format. Even though, there are well articulated policies in Ghana towards the employment of persons with disabilities in general, these have not been effective. The labour market is competitive, unfriendly and characterized by negative public prejudice and disbelief. Keywords : Visually - Impaired; Employment Opportunity; Disabilities. International Journal of Educational Research Vol. 3 (2) 2007 pp. 275-282