Access to tourism facilities by persons with disabilities in the Accra metropolis

Abstract

Persons with disability (PWDs) have been excluded from various activities including tourism due to the inability to provide facilities that meet their needs. Yet, Ghana’s Disability Act of 2006 orders the involvement of PWDs in social, political, economic, creative or recreational activities. The main objective was to examine the accessibility of tourism facilities to PWDs in the Accra Metropolis, focusing on the physically challenged, visually and the hearing/speech impaired. The research was conducted using a non-experimental design supported by an interpretivist philosophy. The purposive sampling method was employed for service providers, and the snowball sampling for PWDs. Data was collected through the use of interviews and focus group discussions (FGD). In all, 16 service providers and one physically challenged key informant were interviewed. Also, four FGD’s were conducted consisting of five tour guides, 12 visually impaired, 12 hearing impaired and 11 physically challenged. Narratives were used for the analyses, by classifying transcribed data into themes based content. Among the major findings of the study were that the physically challenged faced physical access challenges, the hearing/speech impaired faced communication access needs and the visually impaired experienced visual access needs. The main problem preventing access to facilities was the poor attitude of service providers towards PWDs, and their inability to handle them, which translates to bias. It is recommended that service providers should get specific training on how to handle PWDs and conduct accessibility audits to make their facility disable-friendly.