Politics of inclusive development: the marginal lens: gendered responses to disability inclusion in Ghana

The calls for inclusive development by development organisations are rooted in hostile factors. This hostility is evidenced by the omission of disability from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), now foregrounded by the Sustainable Development Goals’ (SDGs) emphasis on disability data disaggregation. Disability data disaggregation drives the calls for inclusion, which have resulted in the proliferation of inclusive slogans by development organisations to showcase development efforts. Yet, development organisations face the problem of refraining from disability within this inclusive development agenda. The exclusion of disability issues has significant human rights implications and incurs an economic cost ranging from 3.0% to 7.0% of countries’ Gross Domestic Product (GDP), as reported by the International Labour Organisation (ILO); however, disability is not a ‘hot’ academic and development issue. More critically, this exclusion denotes a juncture where the fundamentals of meaning falter, resulting in a state of defiance that renders disability inaccessible and overly personal, distorting inclusion into isolated and siloed strategies. This thesis addresses 3 key questions: 1) How is disability defined and internalised, and the cultural and institutional logics shaping these understandings? 2) How is disability operationalised through both lived experience and development practice? and 3) What alternative perspectives can challenge structural avoidance and foster relational connection as a foundation for disability-inclusive development? Drawing on a mixed methods design, the study engaged 447 research participants, 63.3% women and 36.7% men, through surveys (399), interviews (28), photovoice (11), focus group discussions (9) and document analysis across 4 development organisations working on albinism, mental health, physical impairments, and women from economically poor backgrounds in Ghana. Centring the lived experiences of 234 research participants with disabilities (52.3%), this study contributes to disability and development research through an intersectional, participatory design. Findings reveal that singular understandings of disability—whether medical, spiritual, or social—constrain inclusive development by oversimplifying complex lived experiences; however, this thesis demonstrates that these interpretations often coexist, forming a continuum of situated truths that underscores the need for a pluralistic framework in disability-inclusive development. Furthermore, people with disabilities, especially women, offer critical insights into systemic exclusion, bringing nuance and depth to inclusion efforts through pride, autonomy and sisterhood. One participant reclaims space through fashion as self-expression; another leads radio advocacy on albinism; a third reconfigures care and identity through a ‘twinning’ relationship, resisting narratives of separateness. It centres lived narratives that disrupt and expose the limitations of dominant deficit-based models, including the social model and the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). Building on this and extending Mitra and Shakespeare’s critique of the ICF, this thesis shows that agency and choice are restricted when disability is understood solely through the lens of function, activity, and participation. Instead, it foregrounds personal freedoms, such as fashion as spatial and political reclamation, radio advocacy, and ‘twinning’ as an alternative care model, offering new conceptual entry points into agency, belonging, and relational identity. These narratives deepen theoretical debates by showing how people with disabilities actively resist marginalisation and create meaning in ways that are often overlooked by dominant institutional frameworks, yet are essential to achieving inclusive development. This thesis contributes to disability and development scholarship by demonstrating that marginalisation in Ghana stems from narrow, non-gendered conceptualisations of disability embedded in partially inclusive processes. It argues that disability inclusion is essential, not optional, for development, and positions people with disabilities as critical knowledge holders in advancing equity and inclusion. Addressing the limitations of existing literature that often sidelines disability or frames it solely through discrimination, the study introduces 2 original conceptual tools: disability pluralism, which recognises coexisting meanings and the multiplicity of disability realities and truths; and disability connectors, which reframe disability as a shared, dynamic human experience shaped by time and context to de-minoritise disability. Together, these concepts advance a more inclusive and relational framework for understanding and practising inclusive development. Furthermore, the thesis highlights a critical gap between global advances in disability data disaggregation and its practical application. It reveals that disability-focused organisations often prioritise singular disability types or assume disability status and type while overlooking intersectional dimensions such as gender and multiple disabilities. In contrast, mainstream organisations focused on women or education routinely neglect disability or limit it to visible disabilities such as physical impairments, thereby constraining inclusive operationalisation. Lastly, this thesis advances inclusive, creative methodologies that foreground marginalised voices and expose intersectional invisibility and structural exclusion, firmly repositioning disability from the margins to the core of academic inquiry and development policy.