Crossing borders, pushing boundaries: Disabled refugees’ experiences of community and community participation in the USA

Purpose – Disability-related politics and discourse in developed countries seldom includes the voices of disabled people from immigrant ethnic communities. Attending to the experiences of people with disabilities among immigrant communities is particularly salient when considering questions about community participation and citizenship in the context of immigrant-receiving societies such as the USA. This chapter aims to shed light on this topic by examining the narratives of refugees with disabilities resettled in the USA.Methodology – A global ethnography framework was used to collect narrative data from eight Cambodian and seven Somali refugees with disabilities through observations, in-depth interviews, focus groups, and social network surveys. Additionally semistructured interviews were conducted with 10 service providers/key experts. Data were analyzed using grounded theory techniques.Findings – Data from the study revealed that the Cambodian and Somali participants were distinct in terms of their access to sources of support and community and in their experiences of community participation barriers. Depending on their respective circumstances, they engaged in various tactics and strategies to negotiate these barriers and to create new networks of support and advocacy.Limitations – The study sample was purposively selected and therefore findings represent only the views and experiences of the participants precluding any claims about generalizability. Furthermore, owing to the cross-cultural nature of this research there is a possibility that certain linguistic and cultural nuances were missed during data collection and analysis.Implications – Findings suggest a need to recognize and support heterogeneous disability experiences and diverse expressions of “disability activism” enacted in individually, contextually, and culturally preferred ways in order to draw disabled people from diverse groups into the broader disability community in the USA.