Grounding DLT in Ghana – Developing Deaf Legal Theory

Grounding Deaf Legal Theory (DLT) in Ghana is a two-year pilot project (August 2025 – July 2027) that extends the DLT model into a Global Majority context for the first time. The project explores how deaf people in Ghana experience law, rights, and justice, and uses these lived realities to test, refine, and strengthen the DLT framework.

The project is funded by UWE Bristol’s Vice-Chancellor’s Early Career Researcher Award and led by Dr Rob Wilks (UWE Bristol) in partnership with the Ghana National Association of the Deaf (GNAD). Professor Annelies Kusters (Heriot-Watt University) acts as Senior Research Mentor.

Why Ghana?

Ghana is the starting point for grounding the DLT model in Global Majority perspectives.

Deaf communities across Ghana have a long history of organised advocacy, led by GNAD, alongside strong community networks and deaf schools. Deaf people regularly navigate complex legal and institutional systems in relation to education, healthcare, employment, and rights recognition.

Ghana’s linguistic diversity, cultural contexts, and lived legal experiences offer critical insight into how law operates beyond Global North assumptions. By listening directly to deaf people’s stories and expertise, the project ensures that Deaf Legal Theory develops in ways that are:

deaf-led
rooted in real-world legal experiences
responsive to different social and legal environments
genuinely global in scope

Project aims

The project seeks to:

Document lived experiences of deaf people in Ghana in relation to law, rights, and justice
Test and refine the Deaf Legal Theory model in a Global Majority context
Co-produce knowledge and practical resources with deaf communities and GNAD
Strengthen advocacy and policy engagement through evidence-based tools
Lay foundations for applying the model in other Global Majority countries

Method and approach

The project uses a participatory, community-based research design.

Stage 1 – lived experience interviews

Semi-structured interviews led by a deaf Research Assistant recruited through GNAD
Conducted in Ghanaian Sign Language (GSL)
Focused on everyday experiences of law, discrimination, institutions, and rights

Stage 2 – co-production workshops

Four half-day workshops in Accra bringing together:
- deaf people with little formal education
- educated deaf people
- deaf professionals
- deaf leaders and educators
Participants critique, test, and expand the DLT model together