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 Periodical article |
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| Title: | Voices of the disabled in Dagbon |
| Author: | Mahama, Edward Salifu |
| Year: | 2007 |
| Periodical: | TICCS Newsletter - Tamale Institute of Cross-Cultural Studies |
| Issue: | 35 |
| Pages: | 8-13 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Ghana |
| Subjects: | people with disabilities Dagomba |
| Abstract: | The understanding of and response to 'disability' is fundamentally different in Dagbon, Ghana, from the understanding and response in the West. In the West disabled persons are seen as human and because they are in greater need they require more support. Among the Dagomba it is the very nature of the entity that is in question. The Dagomba assume that there are different levels or degrees of human-ness determined by the type of disability. They distinguish three kinds of disabled persons, viz. 'nandamba', 'nammo', and 'binan'. 'Nandamba', which include the blind, the deaf, and the dumb, are still regarded as full members of the community. The 'nammo', which include the lame and those whose facial features have been disfigured, are regarded as not fully human, while the 'binan', including dwarfs and other persons showing abnormal development, have even less human-ness. Furthermore, disabilities in women are less socially acceptable than the same disabilities in men. The extent of human-ness determines the kind of response required by society. The disabled are discriminated in Dagbon because of the presupposition that they are not human. This presupposition can only be challenged by slowly actualizing another view of reality, namely that the disabled are fully human and can be useful members of society. Bibliogr. [ASC Leiden abstract] |