Abstract:
This study investigated the quality of life of persons with disabilities in Ghana
and the role of higher education, employment and social support systems. The
study adopted a mixed-methods research with explanatory sequential design.
The accessible population was persons with disabilities with higher education
qualification in the Greater Accra, Ashanti, and Northern Regions of Ghana.
Exponential non-discriminative snowball sampling technique was used to select
117 patticipants from the three regions for the survey and 18 participants from
this number were conveniently sampled for the interviews. A questionnaire and
semi-structured interview guide were used to collect data for the study. The
questionnaire was administered through online surveys and personal
administrations. The interviews were conducted face-to-face and through
telephone interviews. The quantitative data were analysed using inferential
statistics while the qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis. It was
found out that social support systems were the only variable with statistically
significant relationship with quality of life of persons with disabilities. Fmther,
no relationship was established between higher education and employment,
higher education and social support, and employment and social support among
persons with disabilities. It was concluded that the relationship between higher
education and quality of life could improve with employment and income.
Finally, it was concluded tl1at higher education, employment and social support
combine to account for a small percentage of quality of life for persons with
disabilities. It was recommended that social support systems should be
encouraged so as to improve on the quality of life for persons with disabilities.
