Former Vice President for Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) at the University of Ghana, Sarah Kekeli, has urged university boards and policymakers to adopt a change in mindset and strengthen policies concerning persons with disabilities.
She made this call in an exclusive interview with Univers News during the commemoration of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities 2025 on December 3.
Sarah Kekeli highlighted persistent infrastructural and attitudinal barriers faced by students with disabilities on campus. She pointed to unsafe environments, limited access to learning materials, and stigma from peers and lecturers as major challenges.
“There are lots of barriers that students with disabilities face at the higher educational level. Some of them are infrastructural barriers, and if I’m allowed to give examples, we all know that on the University of Ghana campus, a clear example is the JQB lecture hall. It’s not accessible for students with physical impairments. There are open gutters all over campus which are not accessible. It’s not safe. They’re supposed to be covered,” she said.
“We all know that access to reading materials is a big challenge for students with disabilities on campus, especially for students with visual impairments not have full access to reading materials and also attitudinal barriers by students on campus or meeting some lecturers, if I could boldly say. So all these are among a number of barriers that I can mention,” she added.
She further emphasised that inclusion must never be an afterthought, stressing that making environments accessible today benefits everyone tomorrow, as ageing and unforeseen circumstances can bring disability to anyone.
“So I believe that inclusion is not an option. Inclusion is the right of everyone. If you make the world accessible for persons with disabilities today, you make it accessible for yourself tomorrow. Because one way or the other, in the future, we will grow older, we will have some kind of disability. So we make the world accessible today,” she said. “So I believe that inclusion should not be an afterthought. We shouldn’t leave any students behind because every student has the right to access.”
She also argued that inclusive policies must move from paper to practice. She explained that effective implementation would empower students with disabilities, shape mindsets, and prepare them to enter the workforce without stigma.
“We have a lot of policies, but they only exist on paper,” she said. “When you go to the ground, it’s not being implemented. So if these policies are being implemented, measures are put in place for it to be implemented. I believe the gap between education and even employment can be bridged. Because when you start from the grassroots, it goes up into employment. So if the University of Ghana has inclusive policies that do not just exist on paper, but are being implemented, I believe that we are going to go a long way.”
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Story by Kelvin Owusu Andam | univers.ug.edu.gh
Edited by Gabriel Tecco Mensah
