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Australia has long placed restrictions on the immigration of people with disabilities. While recent civil society mobilisation has forced some shift in policy, it is far from clear whether this will result in people with disabilities being accepted as immigrants. The issue is complicated further for people defined as ‘refugees’ and ‘asylum seekers’ who have encountered the migration restrictions on disability. As a result of this policy landscape, there is limited rigorous research that seeks to understand the social inclusion and participation of disabled refugees and asylum seekers within the resettlement process. An extensive review reveals that refugees and asylum seekers with disabilities remain largely absent from both resettlement literature and disability research. This paper summarises the limited available research in the area around the following themes: processes of offshore migration and the way that disability is assessed under Australia’s refugee legislation; the uncertainty of the prevalence of disability within refugee and asylum seeker communities; the provision of resettlement services, both mainstream and disability-specific, through the transitional period and beyond; and the invisibility of asylum seekers with disabilities in Australia’s immigration detention centres, community-based arrangements and offshore processing centres. To conclude, the paper outlines implications for further research, policy and practice in the Australian context.

Disability and the Global South (DGS), 2015, Vol. 2 No. 1

"The intention of this guide is to provide practical guidance on how Oxfam undertakes political economy analysis (PEA) in order to inform operations and programming. It is based on the experience of working with Oxfam Myanmar (and heavily features this experience), initially looking at how PEA could be used to address two areas: 1) ‘How can citizens/civil society get engaged with local planning and budgeting processes?’ and 2) ‘How will the economic opening up of Myanmar affect small-scale farmers?’"

Youth with disabilities, as a subgroup of both persons with disabilities and of youth, are often left out of both legislation and advocacy networks. One step towards addressing the needs of youth with disabilities is to look at their inclusion in both the law and civil society in various national contexts. This article, which is descriptive in nature, presents research findings from an analysis of public policy and legislation and qualitative data drawn from interviews, focus group discussions, and site visits conducted on civil society organizations working in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and Jakarta, Indonesia. Data was collected during two separate research visits in the Spring and Summer of 2011 as a part of a larger study measuring youth empowerment. Key findings indicate that youth with disabilities are underrepresented in both mainstream youth and mainstream disability advocacy organizations and networks and are rarely mentioned in either youth or disability laws. This has left young women and men with disabilities in a particularly vulnerable place, often without the means of advancing their interests nor the specification of how new rights or public initiatives should address their transition to adulthood.

Disability and the Global South (DGS), 2014, Vol. 1 No. 1

"This meeting report provides information from a meeting reviewing the roadmap of the 'Implementation of the Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons, 2003-2012'. The report provides a review of the key issues identified by Governments and civil society as contained in the responses to surveys conducted by the secretariat on the regional implementation of the Second Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons. It also presents the inputs and views of stakeholders as a basis for the preparation of the outcome document for the High-level Intergovernmental Meeting"
Regional stakeholder consultation for the high-level intergovernmental meeting on the final review of the implementation of the Asian and Pacific decade of disabled persons, 2003-2012 (Second Session)
Bangkok, Thailand
14-16 December 2011

This policy paper is based on the practice and experience acquired by Handicap International (HI) in working with and supporting organisations representative of people with disabilities. The paper first outlines the development of DPOs and their particular roles and responsibilities with regards to the goal of improving the situation of persons with disabilities. It then discusses the importance of supporting DPOs specifically regarding HI’s engagement, presents key components of projects, and highlights links with HI’s institutional framework documents. This paper is useful for anyone interested in support to organisations representative of persons with disabilities

Following a statistically rich overview of the position of disabled women and girls globally, the position of disabled women and girls in Australia is reported. The human rights violations of disabled women in the context of violence, sterilisation and, motherhood and parenting are discussed. The history, evolution and current structure of the Women with Disabilities Australia (WWDA) organisation are described. Some of the challenges and successes of WWDA are also described including: dealing with authorities; negotiating the local, the national and the global; using the new communication technologies; and forming strategic alliances.