This paper reports on research on the educational experiences of disabled refugee students. While disability has been recognised as a concern in refugee populations, little research has been done in the area of education, especially in the Global South (Walton et al., 2020). Disabled refugees struggle to access various services, and this study focuses on the challenges and opportunities for inclusion in education at all levels of the system in three sub-Saharan African countries. The three countries represent both encampment and dispersal approaches to refugee settlement. The study thus has have relevance to all countries who host migrants and who grapple with the challenge of applying international policy on disability and refugee education to local contexts. The project is underpinned by a social ecosystem model (Hodgson & Spours, 2016) which identifies activities and practices as impacted by vertical facilitatory mechanisms such as international, national and local policies and regulations, resource allocation, and 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 emerges in this ecosystem. The methodology is a multiple-case study design (Stake, 2006), with each country taken as a single case in which the phenomenon of the education of disabled refugee students is studied according to the needs and priorities of that context. A cross-case analysis then allowed us to make assertions across all three cases. Multiple methods have been used, including analysis of extant statistical sources, policy analysis and interviews with disabled refugee students and their families, education officials and relevant NGOs. Findings presented point to a complex policy landscape with alignments and contradictions over space and time in each context, with disabled refugee students and their families having to navigate not only education policy, but that of immigration, labour, health, welfare etc. Their experiences across the three contexts are mixed, with some disabled refugees able to access appropriately supportive and inclusive education, but others marginalised and excluded. We reveal the importance of local actors who ensure that the educational rights of this student community are realised but argue that this is a necessary but insufficient condition for inclusion. Policy makers and implementers need to recognise the intersectional identities of disabled students, who may also be refugees, and refugee students, who may also be disabled and so ensure that disabled refugees become visible and included in education.

Hodgson, A. & Spours, K. (2016). Restrictive and expansive policy learning. Journal of Education Policy, 31(5), 511-525. Stake, R.E., (2006). Multiple case study analysis. New York: Guilford Press. Walton, E., McIntyre, J., Awidi, S. J., De Wet-Billings, N., Dixon, K., Madziva, R., Monk, D., Nyoni, C., Thondhlana, J., & Wedekind, V. (2020). Compounded Exclusion: Education for Disabled Refugees in Sub-Saharan Africa. Frontiers in Education, 5.