This project is a partnership between people with disability and family members from Karen (Myanmar) and Afghan Hazara refugee backgrounds, Bendigo community and disability service providers and Deakin University academics. The project aims to co-design research questions and co-develop a research project to reduce barriers to safe regional service access, use and provision.
The need
Bendigo is a large regional town of approximately 100,000 people in north-central Victoria. Over the last decade, Bendigo has welcomed approximately 4,000 people from Karen (Myanmar) and 300 from Afghan Hazara refugee backgrounds including people with disability and their family members. Our partner organisation, Bendigo Community Health Services (BCHS) provides settlement support to people from refugee backgrounds and employs people from their communities. Bendigo disability service providers including our partner organisations, Amicus, Intereach and Lifely report low numbers of people from refugee backgrounds accessing their services. Previous research by BCHS identified lack of cultural safety as a major reason why people from Karen and Afghan Hazara refugee backgrounds do not access National Disability Insurance Scheme funding or use disability services. Using a co-design approach, this project will develop research questions and a proposal to address these safety access barriers.
About
We apply Participatory Action Research, co-design and group model building approaches to address our project aim. An Advisory Group of people with disability and family members from Karen and Hazara refugee backgrounds helps us to make the project culturally safe and relevant. We employ two people, one from each community, to work on the project to conduct culturally safe interviews and interactions in people’s first languages. Artists from each community have created culturally relevant images related to our project. We work together across three languages as people with lived experience, settlement and disability service providers, and academics, to co-design research questions and a research proposal to apply for further funding to continue our work to address the safety access issues highlighted in this project.
Impact
- Co-designed research questions and proposal to
- Address safe service access and delivery in regional areas for people with disability from refugee backgrounds
- Flow on effect for policy, practice and programs locally and nationally
Partners
- Bendigo Disability Service Providers: Amicus, Intereach and Lifely
- Bendigo Community Health Services, Regional and Cultural Diversity team
Funding
Our funding is from the National Disability Research Partnership 2025 Round 1 Funding.
Media, presentations, reports and publications
Conference Presentations
Accepted for two conference presentations in 2026:
- Oceania Systems Thinking and Modelling Symposium 5-6th February 2026, Melbourne (oral presentation)
- Australia and New Zealand Refugee Trauma Recovery in Resettlement conference 4-6th May 2026, Sydney (poster presentation)