Lack of support adds to hardship and isolation for disabled refugees and asylum seekers

Disabled refugees and asylum seekers, including people physically and mentally harmed by torture in their home countries, find themselves isolated in Britain without proper support from social services. Unsuitable housing, unmet personal care needs, communication difficulties and a lack of basic information about services and benefits are among the major problems they face, according to a report for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

The study - launched today at a conference in London - highlights poor knowledge about disabled people’s needs and their entitlements among service providers. It also points to strained relations and confusion over financial responsibility for this vulnerable group. Demands on overstretched social services resources have in some cases resulted in disabled refugees and asylum seekers being given a lower priority than other disabled people.

Working in collaboration with the Refugee Council, researchers at the University of York surveyed more than 100 refugee community groups and disabled people’s organisations. In-depth interviews were conducted with 38 disabled refugees and asylum seekers, including some who now held British citizenship. They also interviewed staff and managers in reception assistant organisations and social services departments. They found that:

• There was no official record of the number of chronically sick and disabled refugees and asylum seekers in Britain, or types of disability. However, the survey identified 5,312 individuals known to 44 organisations.
• Disabled people from refugee and asylum seeking communities were a diverse group. One Kurdish organisation was in touch with 120 disabled people who were mostly men under 45 whose impairments, including amputations, resulted from torture. By contrast, many of the 65 disabled people known to a Vietnamese community group were older women with impairments associated with age and chronic illness.
• Lack of knowledge about benefits or how to deal with the social services meant some disabled refugees and asylum seekers had missed out on entitlements for a long time. One Vietnamese man who came to Britain 22 years ago as part of the official refugee programme had not been told about his right to Disability Living Allowance.
• Unmet personal care needs were common. Few were aware that social services might be able to help them with washing, dressing, making meals and other daily tasks.
• Personal care problems were often made worse by unsuitable housing - such as flats above ground-floor level with inadequate access - and a lack of aids and adaptations. 
• Communication difficulties were widespread. Apart from difficulties paying for English lessons, some interviewees had found that classes they wanted to attend were in inaccessible locations. A shortage of training courses in British Sign Language for people familiar with other sign languages created particular problems for deaf refugees and asylum seekers.
• Communication barriers, lack of social support and impaired mobility led to extreme isolation. Many interviewees said they rarely left their homes, or had visitors.

More than two years after the implementation of the 1999 Immigration and Asylum Act, the study found vulnerable asylum seekers were being denied essential help because of widespread confusion among social services and other organisations about entitlements. Disabled people granted refugee status or exceptional leave to remain in Britain have the same entitlements to benefits as other disabled people. And while asylum seekers cannot claim disability-related benefits, they are entitled to an assessment of their community care needs from local authority social services - and to have those needs met.

Interviews with service providers showed they were rarely familiar with the full range of disabled refugees’ and asylum seekers’ entitlements. Moreover, service providers had found it difficult to work with each other and the National Asylum Support Service (NASS). Financial responsibility for meeting the needs of disabled refugees and asylum seekers was a major cause of contention, leading to strained relations. A 2001 court ruling, confirming that local authorities are responsible for meeting the care needs of disabled asylum seekers, appeared to have added to the confusion.

NASS was also criticised - together with the Government’s policy of dispersing asylum seekers round the country in small numbers - for a lack of consideration for disabled people. The researchers recommend that NASS staff dealing with applications for support should receive full disability and race equality training and that key staff in NASS, social services and voluntary sector organisations should be given detailed, specialist training. They also call for clarification of procedures, including financial responsibilities, to ensure that the needs of disabled refugees and asylum seekers are properly addressed in future.

Dr Keri Roberts, co-author of the study, said: “We found that disabled people in refugee and asylum-seeking communities frequently experienced great hardship, lacked proper support from care agencies and were often lonely and isolated. As one disabled man told us, coming to Britain had given him sanctuary from persecution and torture, yet his life still felt like a prison sentence due to the isolation he experienced.”

She added: “Considerable confusion about the responsibilities of NASS and the various agencies, together with gaps in professional knowledge and services’ has increased the difficulties that disabled refugees and asylum seekers face. Although we identified some good practice, it was clear that, in the worst cases, reception assistant organisations were simply referring disabled clients to social services, who then reneged on their responsibilities, leaving the disabled person unsupported for long periods.”

Nick Hardwick, Chief Executive of the Refugee Council, said: “This research shows that the needs of disabled refugees and asylum seekers are distinct and complex. It is extremely worrying that people are not getting critical support and help because of a lack of understanding about entitlements. The shirking of responsibility has resulted in disabled refugees and asylum seekers being yo-yoed between social services and NASS and ultimately suffering as a result.”