Who is Worthy of ‘Our’ Support?

An exploration of the causes, impact and possible alternatives to the relative entitlements associated with disability and forced migration in UK

This doctoral research project, led by Rebecca Yeo, explores the lived experiences of disabled asylum seekers; considering how problems are represented by people with different roles and responsibilities in the immigration and disability sectors; and how these representations shape proposed solutions.

Taking a post-structuralist approach, I am assuming that the current system is contingent. If existing inequalities appear inevitable, it suggests that hegemonic assumptions and structures have obscured alternatives. This project therefore explores what needs to change, building on the lived experiences of those who are usually unheard.

Rebecca Yeo is based at the Department of Politics, Languages and International Studies (University of Bath), with an affiliation to School of Geographical Sciences (University of Bristol). Rebecca is funded by the ESRC South West Doctoral Training Partnership.

Publications

Yeo, R., 2019. Disability and forced migration. Chapter 5 in: Social work with asylum seekers, refugees and migrants: theory and skills for practice. Jessica Kingsley.

Yeo, R., 2018. DPAC Submission to the Permanent People’s Tribunal Hearing on violations of the Human Rights of Migrant and Refugee Peoples 3rd & 4th November.

Yeo, R., 2018. Two years after Kamil Ahmad’s murder, there is cause for hope and anger. Bristol Cable. 20 August 2018.

Yeo, R., 2018. Before he was murdered, here is what a disabled asylum seeker had to say about Britain’s ‘hostile environment’. The Conversation. June 29 2018.

Clifford, E., Steel, M., and Yeo, R. 2018. Response to Bristol Safeguarding review into the murder of Kamil Ahmad.  

Yeo, R. A. 2017.  Kamil Ahmad: failed by the Home Office, murdered in Britain. The Guardian. 18 October 2017.

Yeo, R., 2017. The deprivation experienced by disabled asylum seekers in the United Kingdom: symptoms, causes, and possible solutions.  Disability & Society. 32, 5, pp. 657-677

Yeo, R., 2017.  Disabled asylum seekers as experimental subjects in a broader systemic agenda of inequality.  In: Inequalities in the UK: New discourses, evolutions and actions. Fee, D. & Kober-Smith, A. (eds.). Emerald Group Publishing Ltd., pp. 235-252.

Yeo, R., 2016.  Prioritisation of disabled Syrian migrants: a progressive move or reinforcement of a toxic hierarchy of entitlement? Migration Pulse. March 2016. Migrant Rights Network.

Yeo, R., 2015. Disabled asylum seekers?…They don’t really exist’ The marginalisation of disabled asylum seekers and why it matters. Journal of Disability and the Global South.

Short films created together with disabled asylum seekers:

Yeo, R and Spencer, F., 2018. Kamil Ahmad – in his own words. Redweather productions.

Yeo, R and Spencer, F., 2018. Because I have a roof, I can do my things. Without a roof, my brain gonna explode’. Asylum seekers with care needs speak of their experiences with social services. Redweather Productions.

Yeo, R and Spencer, F., 2018. Disabled asylum seekers speak of their experiences in UK. ‘if we can work together, things could be different’.  Redweather Productions.

This project is associated with the MMB Challenge on Resistance, transformation, justice