This paper investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on deaf adults, children, and their families in Ghana, focusing on issues of inclusion. We ask what it takes to �make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable� (United Nations Strategic Development Goal 11) for deaf people in the context of the global pandemic in a low-resource context. The exceptional challenge to inclusion posed by COVID-19 is examined in terms of issues for deaf children and their families, and from the point of view of deaf adults in advocacy and support organisations. The pivotal language and communication issues are shown through a bioecological analysis that illuminates the interdependent dynamics of development and context, and their influence on access to, and understanding of, crucial information. It is argued that the global crisis of COVID-19 exposes and deepens issues of societal exclusion for deaf adults, children, and their families, and provokes wider questions about what inclusion means and how it can be realised, in different cultural contexts.

No abstract

This chapter describes deaf education in Ghana, including the practices and challenges in public special schools for the deaf, early identification, hearing screening, audiological and educational assessment, and the impact of cultural beliefs and practices on school enrollment. For the past sixty years, Ghana has been striving to promote the development of formal education for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals through improvement in school participation rates and lifelong learning for independent living and sustainable development. The authors provide information on basic education (kindergarten to junior high school), secondary education placement options, medium of instruction, and the curriculum. Tertiary education, support services, legislation, and advocacy for deaf persons are also discussed. The chapter ends with conclusions and suggestions for future research in the promotion of best practices in the education of deaf individuals.

This survey explored the learning approaches among deaf students at the University of Education, Winneba (UEW), Ghana. Data were gathered from 31 out of 41 undergraduate deaf students. Participants were randomly sampled from levels 100, 200, 300 and 400. Data were gathered through the Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST, 1998). Data were analysed using descriptive statistics. Findings of the study suggest that participants preferred strategic approach to learning followed by the deep and surface approaches to learning in that order. The study recommended that further investigation be done using longitudinal study in various higher institutions in Ghana. Such a study should examine whether the approaches to learning among deaf students change over time as they go through their university education. The study recommended that in the teaching and learning process, lecturers in the Department of Special Education, UEW need to take into consideration the learning approaches (deep, surface, and strategic) employ to study and plan their teaching to meet such students and should teach each student since deaf students at the university.

Anchored on the socio-cultural theory of learning, this intact group comparison posttest-only research analyzed gender differences in Mathematics achievement of Deaf students in Ashanti School for the Deaf on the Ghana National Education Assessment Test for Primary Six (NEA-P6) in order to provide empirical information for educational practice in that school. One research question and one hypothesis were formulated to guide the study. Out of a population of 29 Primary Six students, a sample of 16 matched students (8 males and 8 females) aged 14 to 19 years with an average pure tone air conduction hearing loss of 101dB, participated in the study. A t-test for dependent samples was used to determine the mean differences between the two group means because the study involved matched participants chosen from a single population. Findings of the study indicated slightly higher mean achievement levels for female participants than that of their male counterparts. Implications for practice and further studies were discussed.