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From the
Deseret News:
SALT LAKE CITY — Growing up in Ghana, Tina Naami (pictured) felt fortunate that her siblings would carry her to school on their backs; that her family didn't simply abandon her to beg in the streets; that she was valued as a person, rather than dismissed as a disability.
While her dreams for the future were considered daring by peers who, like Tina, couldn't walk — she wanted to become a seamstress like her sister — the idea that she would one day earn a doctorate from an American University was something akin to believing she could set foot on the moon.
The fact that she will defend her doctoral dissertation next month at the University of Utah is testament not only to "a deep belief in God's ability to magnify" her abilities, she said, but to what the love of a family can do for a child who won't give up.
One of 11 siblings, Naami said four of the children lived together during the school year in the town of Salaga so they could attend a better school, while their parents lived and worked as subsistence farmers about 28 miles away.
Brothers and sisters took turns toting her to school on their backs. When she wasn't in school, she remembers helping her mother sell produce and braiding the hair of those who could pay her a tiny sum for the service.
She finally was able to get a wheelchair at age 7 through the help of her brother-in-law, who had gone to a university in Europe. She used it for 10 years, wearing the wheels and moving parts to the point of exhaustion because there was no money or parts to repair it.
An elementary teacher became her mentor, telling her she was smart and needed to continue her education. He urged her parents to find a way to make it happen.
Knowing she couldn't crawl her way through high school, they scraped together the money for surgery, which allowed her to walk with crutches. She went to high school over the protests of a teacher "who didn't really want me there. He said I should go to vocational school and become a secretary."
The sting of his prejudice planted a determination to prove him wrong, leading her not only through high school, but to the University of Ghana, where she earned a bachelor's degree in economics.
"I was going to prove to the whole world that I can make it, just like anybody else. All I needed was the support," for which she gives credit to God through her Pentacostal faith. "I know he has endowed me with some strengths and capabilities. I just needed a little support and that came from my family."
Unlike many who are shunned and face prejudices and social stigma even from family members, Naami's faith in herself took root at home. "The (prevailing) perception is that if I invest in this person with a disability, they have nothing to give me in return. My parents didn't perceive my disability that way. They gave me support the same as my siblings."
After earning her undergraduate degree, she worked for a time, then received a scholarship through the Ford Foundation to pursue a master's degree in social work at the University of Chicago. When she returned again to her homeland, she worked for a British organization that specializes in disabilities and development, with a focus on gender issues.
"We were trying to build the capacity of women with disabilities so they could advocate for basic human rights, and be empowered to take care of themselves and their families." After three years, she realized she didn't have the tools or the research she needed, and she began looking for a doctoral program in the U.S.
Faculty at the U.'s School of Social Work had the expertise she needed, and she arrived in 2007, another scholarship paving the way for her research.
She has spent the past three years researching the challenges disabled women face, both in Tamale, the capital of Ghana's northern region, and in Salt Lake City. While differences were to be expected — including the fact that Americans have access to government programs such as Supplemental Security Income — she found there were definite similarities. (See accompanying chart)
While many would assume her research and doctorate will open doors for her back home, Naami said she has no guarantees. "I don't know of any other disabled women in my country who have a Ph.D. But after I got my master's degree, I applied to eight different organizations where I was qualified, and didn't state anything about my disability. All of them short-listed me for an interview. Just one called me back after I met them in person."
She's hoping to cultivate an academic career in research and advocacy, but understands she will be plowing new ground.
"I don't know what it's going to be like. We don't have any anti-discrimination laws functioning," though one regarding disabilities was put in place in 2006. "I will not be able to say because I have a Ph.D people will respect me, and I won't be able to say it will open doors."
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