Disability-related public policies have garnered global attention as they emphasise reducing the number of people experiencing exclusion from the spaces of the social and economic majority, as being the pre-eminent indicator of inclusion (Milner & Kelly, 2009). Various countries have implemented intensive social policies that aim to combat legal, financial, social and educational discrimination against people living with disabilities as well as discrimination that excludes them from access to common social institutions and limits their participation in social life (Szumski et al., 2020). One important area that these social policies have focused on has been to provide access to all levels of mainstream education for students living with disabilities (Florian, 2002; Rieser, 2008).  In recent years, there has been a growing and substantial body of international literature focusing on refugee students and education for students living with disabilities (Walton et al., 2020) as well as an increasing awareness of refugees’ inclusion into education systems and development of solutions to put this into practice (Gomleksiz & Aslan, 2018). Although a vast body of literature has shown that refugee children living with disabilities have been invisible in policy and service provision, a gap that merits further research is the focus on the experiences of educational inclusion and exclusion of refugee students living with disabilities and how the intersectional and compounding effect of system constraints and limited resources have an effect on these experiences. In addition, to our knowledge, studies have not documented student, family, NGO and school engagement in inclusive education beyond the individual level i.e. how the educational experiences of refugee children living with disabilities are embedded in wider organisations. 

Given this background, in this article we use a social ecosystem framework (Hodgson & Spours, 2015) to critically investigate and interpret the complex, interwoven relationships and lives of refugee students with disabilities, their families, schools in South Africa and Uganda.  The paper is based in a 3 year GCRF funded research project examining the education experiences of disabled refugee children and their families. The research centres students' perspectives and situates their educational experiences within the complexity of their lives and the intersectional challenges they face and have faced in their daily lives. From this perspective, we uncover and critically analyse the unique, compounded and interconnected exclusions faced by disabled refugee students as they attempt to reach their learning and life aspirations. By taking a life-wide and community engaged research approach, we are able uncover the complexity and particularity of the relationships between teachers, schools, education officials, NGO’s, students and policy. Employing this approach in our research paper also plays a pivotal role in spurring the development of new engagement frameworks, “how-to” guides, and reflections on lessons learned in the research project (Curran et al., 2018; Harrison et al., 2019; Jull et al., 2019; Katelaar et al., 2020). In this research paper, we articulate core barriers that disabled refugee students face in accessing quality education; we map out the power dynamics and tensions in relationships and their absences within the context of the particular needs and rights of disabled refugee students. We present improved relationships as an important potential mediating mechanism that can improve inclusion and access to quality learning experiences. Finally, we share the benefits of community engaged research in educational research practices.  Our main research questions are as follows: 

1. What contextual factors/ challenges influence disabled refugee children’s experiences of schooling? 

2. How can community engaged research provide opportunities for deeper learning through engaging schools, teachers, education officials, NGOs, students and policymakers focusing on inclusive education for refugee children living with disabilities?  

We adopted a multiple-case study design in order to understand the phenomenon of the education of refugee children living with disabilities, according to the needs and priorities of each context. A multiple case analysis was conducted to enable assertions to be made across the two contexts and so contribute new knowledge about the challenge of the education of disabled refugee students. Various methods of data collection were triangulated and these included the use of a Life grid, semi-structured interviews, community-engaged research and advisory teams in order to develop a comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon under study. Our research study was also underpinned by a social ecosystem model (Hodgson & Spours, 2015) and which locates activities and practices in a conceptual space that is impacted by vertical facilitatory mechanisms such as international, national and local policies and regulations, resource allocation and the horizontal connectivities, interactions and relationships between local actors. The practices of inclusion or exclusion and how various actors (schools/colleges/universities, NGOs, local officials, refugees, communities) are positioned in relation to this emerged in this ecosystem. This model was congruent with the interdisciplinary approach of the project, and enabled us to consider the dynamic interplay of factors at different levels of the system, including considering the effect of structural inequalities. The Life Grid technique was employed in this study in order to help facilitate disabled refugee students’ agency, build interviewer-respondent rapport and enhance the depth and accuracy of their’ recall. The technique also afforded disabled refugee students the opportunity and power to guide the discussion around their experiences and to construct more accurate accounts of their past events. In addition to this method, structured interviews were conducted with disabled refugee students and their families, education officials and NGO workers in order to yield their insights about the context, challenges and extent of support with respect to inclusion in the education system. Moreover, members of the international advisory board and stakeholder forums brought valuable additional disciplinary knowledge to the project. Together, these stakeholders ensured that the research paid particular attention to the psycho-social impact of the experience of crisis of refugee children living with disabilities.

Our research indicates that refugees with disabilities face a multitude of interconnected barriers which impede their access to quality education. An equally interconnected approach to working with disabled refugee families is a crucial in order to meet their learning needs and life aspirations. Our research has elicited the gaps that exist in policy and service provision as well as the resulting impact on access to quality education for refugee students with disabilities. The research accentuates the value of community responsive and community engaged schools to bridge these gaps. Likewise, engaging refugee students living with disabilities, school, education officials, NGOs and parents in community engaged research constitutes a culture shift in research for inclusive education. Developing a community of engagement that transcends an individual research study is a step towards creating a culture of research that is shaped by people with whom the research is being done.

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