Empowerment of Persons with Disability: A Case Study of Female Wheelchair Users in Central Freetown

Abstract

This study examined the “The Empowerment of Persons with Physical Disability: A Case Study of Female Wheelchair Users in Central Freetown”, Sierra Leone. Guided by the social model of disability and the capability approach, it pursued four objectives: to describe the socio-economic and demographic profile of these women, to assess their access to livelihood skills opportunities, to identify the factors associated with that access, and to examine the challenges to their empowerment. A mixed-methods design was used. Quantitative data were gathered through a structured survey of 104 female wheelchair users and analysed in the R statistical environment using descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, Spearman correlations, non-parametric comparisons, and binary logistic regression. Qualitative data were gathered through key informant guide with seven purposively selected key informants and analysed thematically, then triangulated with the survey results. The findings describe a group of prime working-age women, most of them polio survivors with primary schooling or less, who are almost entirely outside formal employment and survive through trading and begging. Although awareness of opportunities was high, only a little over half had tried to access training, and the leading barriers were admission requirements and fees rather than physical inaccessibility. In the regression, the possession of a livelihood skill was the strongest independent predictor of trying to access training, with an odds ratio of 11.86, while age, education, and family size were not significant. The study concludes that empowerment for this group, through funded, accessible, and enforced support, into genuine self-reliance. It recommends at policy level, include the position papers of disabled persons' organisations in national planning and in any revision of the Constitution, adopt compulsory free education for persons with disability at every level, promote economic empowerment and psychosocial support, enforcement of the Persons with Disability Act 2011.