Health and Social Care (Adults)
Disabled Refugees in Britain: entitlements to and needs for social
and welfare services
Researchers: Keri Roberts, Jennifer Harris, Patricia Sloper, (in collaboration with The Refugee Council)
Funder: National
Lottery Charities Board
Joseph
Rowntree Foundation
Duration: September 1999 to April 2002
Key findings
- There is no official source of data on the prevalence of impairments and chronic illness amongst refugees and asylum seekers in Britain. In a survey for this study, 44 refugee community groups and disabled people's organisations identified 5,312 disabled refugees or asylum seekers known to them.
- Unmet personal care needs, unsuitable housing and a lack of aids and equipment were common among the 38 disabled refugees and asylum seekers interviewed. Other themes were: a lack of knowledge about their entitlements or how to get a community care assessment, communication difficulties and extreme isolation.
- Most workers in 'reception assistant' organisations lacked knowledge about the disability- related entitlements and needs of refugees and asylum seekers.
Publications
2003
All doors are closed to us: a social model analysis of the experiences of disabled refugees and asylum seekers in Britain, 2003
Harris, J., Disability & Society, 18, 4, 395-410. Challenging barriers to participation in qualitative research: involving disabled refugees, 2003
Harris, J. and Roberts, K., International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 2, 2, Article 2 . 2002
Disabled refugees and asylum seekers, 2002
Harris, J., Disability Rights Bulletin, Winter 2002, 6-7. Disabled and dispersed, 2002
Roberts, K., Community Care, 12-18 September 2002, 38-39. Disabled People in Refugee and Asylum Seeking Communities, 2002
Roberts, K. and Harris, J., The Policy Press. Disabled people in refugee and asylum-seeking communities in Britain, 2002
Roberts, K. and Harris, J., Findings, Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Working with Disabled Refugees and Asylum Seekers: Information workshop for refugee and social care practitioners, 2002
Roberts, K. and Harris, J., Social Policy Research Unit. 2001
Disabled Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Britain: Numbers and social characteristics, 2001
Roberts, K. and Harris, J., Social Policy Research Unit. 2000
Lost in the system? Disabled refugees and asylum seekers in Britain, 2000
Roberts, K., Disability and Society, 15, 6, 943-948.
Media coverage
The Guardian, October 9 2002. Society: Escape to isolation. Ivor Gabor.
Associated Research
The ways in which local authorities attempt to meet their responsibilities
Associated Research
