ABSTRACT
The achievements and basic tenets of the disabled people's movement are rarely applied to the asylum system. The result is to reinvent the meaning of disability, and to frame the context of asylum as if distinct from elsewhere. Assumptions that mental distress is normal for people seeking asylum are used to reinforce notions that disability is an insignificant minority concern. This chapter turns to explore the understanding of disability that is promoted by current initiatives towards people in the asylum system. Three examples of initiatives are considered:
attempts to improve access to social care without building on existing achievements particularly the UNCRPD
the promotion of integration as a solution to societal divisions despite the disabled people's movement successful rejection of this agenda last century
campaigns that promote the ‘right to work’ without considering the lives being lost through Welfare Reforms that oblige disabled people to find paid work irrespective of the barriers.
Whether intentionally or not, these initiatives risk undermining the achievements of the disabled people's movement, repeating struggles that were previously won, and dividing a potential movement of solidarity. Despite apparently widespread support for action to address the needs of disabled people in the asylum system, it seems that perceptions of possibility are limited to minor adjustments of government agendas. The problem is not limited to people of one political persuasion.
