Florence Mensah: Fall 2019 Fulbright Scholar Visiting UNC Asheville from Ghana

When Florence Akua Mensah took her first steps in Asheville, NC, she immediately felt right at home. With the astounding art, music and welcoming people, Mensah knew she made the right decision to further her research with UNC Asheville. At her home institution of University of Education in Winneba, Ghana, where she is a senior lecturer, she focuses on curriculum provisions for inclusive education. Now through the Fulbright African Research Scholar Program, she’s bringing that perspective and a research topic to the United States, specifically to discover the considerations needed for assessing special needs students for placement in an inclusive classroom.

“Ghana, by September 2019, is going all-inclusive for all the educational levels there,” Mensah said about the timing of her appointment.

Her research focused on students with disabilities, adult students with disabilities on transition and high flyer students/gifted learners, creating an all-inclusive classroom for the growth of students in Ghana that struggle with learning difficulties that may impact their educational performance.

Aside from her research, Mensah took time during her five months with UNC Asheville to explore the campus and the city by attending the Annual Farm-to-Table Dinner, checking out the beautiful mountains while hiking with UNC Asheville faculty, attending the Goombay Festival in downtown Asheville and her first American football game.

Mensah also dedicated time to working with local nonprofit organizations and school districts. She has been observing classrooms in Buncombe County schools, participating in reading training with Read to Succeed Asheville’s Back to School Basic Workshop and attended events with Mission Children Hospital Family Support Network.

“Last weekend we went to A-B Tech where Mission Children’s Hospital Family Support Network had a conference for children with disabilities and we volunteered with the youth,” said Tiece Ruffin, U.S. Fulbright Scholar and Associate Professor at UNC Asheville. “We helped young people with disabilities to create vision boards of what they wish for their future.”

While in Ghana, Mensah worked with students from neighboring basic schools at the Reading Resource Center and Library at her home university and in collaboration with the Center for Hearing and Speech Services, by providing informal assessment support services for placement opportunities, offering services for students in Reading Intervention and providing support for students within the community.

“There are students who are hearing impaired, totally or partially deaf, visually impaired, in all the degrees,” said Mensah. “There are students with cerebral palsy, and there are persons with speech defects. And then there are also those with physical deformities amongst those without disabilities.” All eligible students are welcomed at the University of Education in Winneba, Ghana, Mensah said, regardless of disability.

Mensah comes from a university consisting of four campuses with 18 colleges and one vice chancellor. Her department is located within the of faculty of educational studies. There she teaches and prepares student teachers in the education of learners with special educational needs to teach in special schools and inclusive classrooms. Her services are focused on providing students skills and competencies in their education and resources needed to be independent adults. She has taught a multitude of courses ranging from Introduction to Learning Disabilities, Introduction to Special Education, Social Work, and more.

There are four units in the department of special education. These units consist of Education of the Intellectually Disabled, Visually Impaired, Hearing Impaired and Community Based Rehab and Disability Studies.

Mensah has also published in multiple International Referred Journals, Local Journals, Published Books and Chapters in Books. Not only is she a successful author, but Mensah is a member of the International Association of Special Education, International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development, International Literacy Association, University Teachers Association of Ghana and more.

With Mensah’s tenure at UNC Asheville ending in December of 2019, Ruffin said she believes Mensah’s time here will “provide her with a springboard to achieve a deeper wisdom and knowledge about how to educate students with disabilities along with ‘non disabled’ peers. This situates the U.S. and Ghana as global partners in international education for the rights of students with disabilities.”