This book contributes to the discourse on disability in Africa as an issue of systemic exclusion characterized by the discrimination and often complete segregation of persons with disabilities (PWDs) in various African countries. Despite the inclusive promise of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) as well as the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Africa, the situation has not actually improved for PWDs in Africa. Given the powerful evidence of the devaluation of PWDs in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic, it is high time to reflect on the experiences of persons with disabilities in education, along with other forms of discrimination they encounter. The book's respective chapters assess how well the existing legal frameworks, policies and practices in most African countries have met the needs for inclusion of children and adults with disabilities.

The social and economic rights of persons with disabilities are protected in the constitutions of most countries and enshrined in the normative frameworks that most African leaders have adopted and ratified. These commitments need to be borne in mind when thinking about the present and the future. Inclusive development is an investment and must be viewed as part of a package of reforms that are connected to substantive social protection and improvements in realizing other socio-economic goods. Indeed, a range of alliances are needed to advance the goals of 'leaving no one behind', ensuring 'education for all', and delivering on the African Union's call for the development of policies, programmes and requisite budgets for the realization of inclusive education for persons with disabilities.

Autorentext

Ngozi Chuma Umeh is a senior lecturer in the Department of Jurisprudence and International Law, Imo State University, Owerri. She works closely with some Persons with Disabilities organizations in Nigeria. Ngozi is a member of the Nigerian Bar Association and actively consults with Disability Law. Advocacy Project (DLAP) and the Initiative for Disability Inclusion (INCLUD). She is currently the Co-chairperson Nigerian Chapter, International Society of Public Law (ICON-S) and a member of the Law and Society Association (LSA) a leading professional association that have provided the opportunity for her to coordinate and organize International Research Collaborative (IRCs) that undertake sociolegal research projects. She holds an LLD from the University of Pretoria. Her research interests are in human rights and socio-legal studies, with a focus on disability studies, education, children's rights and sustainable development. Her doctoral study is situated within the broader academic literature around scholarship on deaf studies and inclusive education. She holds a HarvardX Verified Certificate on Child Protection.