Seminar on Disability and Migration with Dr Rebecca Yeo, from University of Exeter.
Dr Rebecca Yeo (University of Exeter), author of Disabling Migration Controls, highlights how asylum restrictions actively disable and how insights from the disabled people’s movement support justice. The seminar, held on the International Day of Disabled People, explores overlapping injustices in migration, disability, and climate crises. Drawing on the Sensing Climate project and research in Glasgow, the presentation promotes cross-movement collaboration. The project invites Disabled and d/Deaf people with chronic conditions to contribute through conversation or mural ideas. Interpreters and expenses covered.
Glasgow Refugee, Asylum and Migration Network (GRAMNet) Event
Date: Wednesday 03 December 2025
Time: 13:00 - 14:00
Venue: Room 734, James McCune Smith with online option
Category: Public lectures, Academic events, Student events, Staff workshops and seminars, Community events
Speaker: Dr Rebecca Yeo from University of Exeter.
bling Migration Controls which argues that the restrictions imposed on people seeking asylum are actively disabling and that insights from the disabled people's movement are highly relevant to building greater justice. She facilitates the Disability and Migration Network.
Rebecca is working on the Sensing Climate project (https://sensing-climate.com/), exploring disabled people’s needs, experiences and insights in relation to climate change. Using painted murals, creative writing and interviews, the project promotes the needs and insights of disabled people to develop more effective and equitable response to climate change.
Abstract- Responding to the social, political and ecological crisis by prioritising migration and disability justice
At a time of social, political and ecological crisis, systemic change appears not only overdue but inevitable. The question is therefore whether this moment is used by the far right to scapegoat migrants, disabled people and other marginalised people, or whether it becomes a chance to develop solidarity, justice and a sustainable future. On International Day of Disabled People, this paper considers how insights and experiences of disabled people could be applied to resist and address injustice.
There will always be disabled people, just as there will always be people who move. When people are valued according to economic productivity, many disabled people as well as recent migrants are inevitably disadvantaged. The disabled people’s movement has long argued that society must be changed to meet everybody’s needs. This call is amplified at a time of climate emergency, caused at least in part by the unfettered pursuit of profit, built on the exploitation of people and planet. Minoritised people living in precarious situations, including the overlapping populations of people without secure migration status and disabled people, already face disproportionate impact of environmental disaster. When considered at all, the needs of people in these circumstances are frequently framed as if inevitable victims, or a burden on the capitalist economy.
Countering such framing, previous work on migration and disability (Yeo 2024) will be used alongside early reflections from the Sensing Climate (https://sensing-climate.com/) project work in Glasgow, to explore the scope for bringing together key principles from different social movements to develop new solutions to current crises.
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Sensing Climate is currently working in Glasgow https://sensing-climate.com/news/fieldwork-in-glasgow. If you have a chronic health condition, if you are Disabled or d/Deaf, we would like to invite you to take part in a project about climate change. There are opportunities to get involved through an individual conversation or contributing ideas for a painted mural. We can provide interpreters and pay for your expenses.
For further information please contact r.yeo@exeter.ac.uk or sarah.bell@exeter.ac.uk
Shorter bio: Dr Rebecca Yeo (University of Exeter), author of Disabling Migration Controls, argues that asylum restrictions actively disable and that insights from the disabled people’s movement offer essential tools for justice. The Disability and Migration Network facilitates collaboration across these issues. The Sensing Climate project explores disabled people’s experiences of climate change through murals, writing, and interviews.
The seminar, held on the International Day of Disabled People, responds to social, political, and ecological crises by prioritising migration and disability justice. The presentation draws on research in Glasgow and previous work to examine how overlapping injustices can be addressed through cross-movement collaboration.
Disabled and d/Deaf people with chronic conditions can join the project. Interpreters and expense coverage available.