The Intersection of Disability, Inclusion, and Technical Vocational Education in Nigeria: A Critical Ethnographic Study

This study critically examines the intersection of disability, inclusion, and technical vocational education in Nigeria through a critical ethnographic approach. Despite constitutional guarantees and international conventions on inclusive education, persons with disabilities remain severely marginalised in Nigerian technical and vocational education systems. The barriers they face are not solely physical but are deeply embedded in institutional cultures, pedagogical assumptions, and policy frameworks that construct disability as incompatibility with technical training. This study employs a critical disability studies theoretical framework alongside critical ethnography, conducting sustained fieldwork over 18 months in five technical institutions in Lagos, Kano, Enugu, Port Harcourt, and Maiduguri that have implemented inclusion policies to varying degrees. Participant observation in workshops and classrooms, in-depth interviews with 40 students with disabilities, 20 teachers, 15 administrators, and 10 disability rights advocates, and document analysis of inclusion policies and implementation records are used. Critical discourse analysis and reflexive ethnographic interpretation generate findings. Findings are expected to reveal systemic ableism embedded in technical curricula, assessment systems, and workshop designs, alongside individual stories of resilience and institutional transformation. Theoretical contributions include an original critical disability model of inclusive technical vocational education in the Nigerian context. Practical contributions include an inclusive VTE policy framework and teacher training curriculum. This study fills a critical gap in disability and education research in Nigeria and provides a foundation for systemic inclusion reform. Keywords: disability, inclusion, technical vocational education, Nigeria, critical ethnography