I'm Able

$17.99

Sefakor G.M.A. Komabu-Pomeyie

This book is about my life—from under my mother’s desk as a child in Ghana to the hills of Vermont as a PhD holder now. As a bubbly child who had her whole future ahead of her, I never dreamt of waking up one day and losing my legs to polio. But that is what happened. From then on my beautiful life began falling apart. It took the resilience of my mother to see me through life. She told me, “It’s only through education that you can become someone of worth.” Getting an education as a person with a disability was not as smooth as I thought it could be. It was not long until I realized that school facilities and resources were built without people like me in mind. I had to compete with those who had advantages I did not have, and this eventually led me onto the fi elds of policy analysis and advocacy, from which I have never looked back. As a victim and a survivor of a system that was built to bring any child with disability down, I have had fi rst-hand experiences and now stand in a better place to paint a picture of the troubles people with disabilities go through to rise to the top. It is my aim to bring to the foreground all the challenges students with disabilities move through, and how we can align policy with practices in our education system. With the right kind of environment and support from the powers that be, people with all kinds of disabilities soar to greater heights and achieve whatever dreams they set their hearts on.

Sefakor G.M.A. Komabu-Pomeyie

This book is about my life—from under my mother’s desk as a child in Ghana to the hills of Vermont as a PhD holder now. As a bubbly child who had her whole future ahead of her, I never dreamt of waking up one day and losing my legs to polio. But that is what happened. From then on my beautiful life began falling apart. It took the resilience of my mother to see me through life. She told me, “It’s only through education that you can become someone of worth.” Getting an education as a person with a disability was not as smooth as I thought it could be. It was not long until I realized that school facilities and resources were built without people like me in mind. I had to compete with those who had advantages I did not have, and this eventually led me onto the fi elds of policy analysis and advocacy, from which I have never looked back. As a victim and a survivor of a system that was built to bring any child with disability down, I have had fi rst-hand experiences and now stand in a better place to paint a picture of the troubles people with disabilities go through to rise to the top. It is my aim to bring to the foreground all the challenges students with disabilities move through, and how we can align policy with practices in our education system. With the right kind of environment and support from the powers that be, people with all kinds of disabilities soar to greater heights and achieve whatever dreams they set their hearts on.

 

Sefakor G.M.A. Komabu-Pomeyie is an international disability rights advocate, educator, researcher, and policy analyst for the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability and as the Resource Center Coordinator of the Ghana Education Service. She is the Founder of Enlightening and Empowering People with Disabilities in Africa and has presented on several platforms including the American Educational Research Association, New England Educational Organization, African Studies Association and European Conference on African Studies-Switzerland. She is currently teaching at the University of Vermont and Saint Michael’s College.