ICT use and competencies of school children with intellectual disabilities in low-resource settings: the case of Ghana in sub-Saharan Africa

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) such as the Internet and mobile devices and applications hold much promise for supporting people with intellectual disabilities to actualize their aspirations and needs (e.g., by facilitating their access to information, skills learning, community participation and inclusion). However, there is limited understanding about their use in non-Western countries, although the majority of people with disabilities live there. We engaged with staff and students at two large special education schools in Ghana, West Africa, to explore their ICT participation through interviews, observations, focus groups, and technology workshops called "TechShops." We found a sharp dichotomy between the urban private and rural public schools. The former had Internet access, small staff-student ratios, provision of speech, and physiotherapy support, and children had ICT use competencies (e.g., selecting, swiping, launching apps). The latter had large staff-student ratios, little access to therapy services, and students lacked basic ICT use competencies. However, they quickly learned to use visual educational apps on tablets through our workshops. Our findings contribute an understanding of local aspirations and the potential for low-cost ICTs in low-resource contexts to bootstrap support for children with intellectual disabilities.