Immigrants who are disabled living in society.

1. CLIENTS WITH IMMIGRANT
ORIGIN AND A DISABILITY OR
LONG-TERM ILLNESS
Hilma – the Support Centre for Immigrant Persons with Disabilities
Coordinator Eeva Airikkala
DIAK 28.2.2017

2. Hilma- the Support Centre for Immigrant
Persons with Disabilities
Started as a project at Helsingin Invalidien Yhdistys in 2002
Since 2006 under the Finnish Disability Forum
Funded by STEA (Funding Centre for Social Welfare and Health Organisations)
Coordinator and a part time Service Advisor
Serves customers:
 Nationally
 All disability groups and languages
Location: Helsinki, Iiris Centre (Service and Activity Centre for the Visually Impaired) in Itäkeskus

3. What are we trying to achieve?
Promote integration and independent life of immigrants with disabilities or long-term illnesses
Strengthen the fulfillment of rights and equal treatment (authorities, service providers, third
sector)
Increase knowledge about this minority and thus prevent discrimination

6. What do we do in practice?
Client work: advice, guiding, support in applying for services and economic support, peer
support groups
Information and lectures: information about the situation about immigrant persons with
disabilities in Finland, newsletter, publications, seminars, lectures, experts by experience
Advocacy and cooperation: Hilma network, cooperation and consulting for projects, statements

7. Different understandings of disability
Medical model
◦ disability is the problem of the individual
◦ the disabled is faulty, unable
◦ s/he should adapt to society’s norms
◦ needs treatment and/or a cure
◦ dependant on external expertise

8. Different understandings of disability
The social model
◦ disability is everybody’s business
◦ the structures of society are ”disabling”
◦ society needs to adapt and change
◦ everybody should have equal rights and possibilities
◦ disabled persons to decide about things concerning them
-> “nothing about us without us”

9. Immigrants with disability/ long-term
illness in Finland
Quota refugees:
Asylum seekers
Work/studies
Disabled while already in Finland
”Second generation” immigrants
Undocumented persons
-A rough estimate of the amount of disabled/long-term ill immigrants in Finland: 3000 – 45 000
persons (depending on the severity of the disability)
-Double minority -> special needs and challenges

10. Cultural factors
how services and economic benefits are applied for and attributed (social status vs.
bureaucracy)
how people communicate in different situations
! BUT: do not overestimate the impact of cultural factors !
! Focus on the individual, Don't assume – ask !

11. Challenges in integration
Double minority: enhanced risk of marginalisation
The circumstances of migration and becoming disabled
Non-acceptance of the disability, experiences of discrimination
Trouble with motivation, no clear aims in life, few expectations for one’s own life
Lacking information about services
Barriers of communication (language skills and communication style)
Unfitting integration measures, trouble finding a job or study place
Complicated public service structure with many sectors and changing personnel
The system sometimes fails to see the needs of the whole family, changes in the internal roles in the family
Lack of social networks and peer support, loneliness
Mental health problems, trauma, PTSD
Prejudices and negative attitudes of others (unfortunately growing xenophobia now)

12. Supporting integration
Appropriate info about services, rights and obligations -> using an interpreter and alternative ways of
delivering information if needed
Access to services as soon as possible after moving to Finland
Special support (e.g. in case of traumas, mental health issues)
Multiprofessional cooperation
Paying attention to the family as a whole
Focusing on strengths and possibilities, empowerment
Participation in decisions conserning oneself
Individual approach, one size fits no-one
Rights-based approach in Finland
Strengthening positive attitude, active inclusion

13. A family with three children (girls aged 4 and 6 & a boy aged 10) move to Finland as quota refugees from Iraq. The
10-year-old boy has an progressive neurological disease that the parents don't know very much about.
At the refugee camp they were told that their son would be cured once they get to Finland. When they arrive, they
are given information about public services and treatments, along with instructions about how to apply for them.
The parents are very satisfied with their social worker.
Five years later:
The two girls have learned Finnish well at daycare and shool. The mother knows Finnish quite well and works part-
time in a store. The father is an informal carer for their son and has not had a chance to learn Finnish properly. He is
tired and says he would prefer a ”real” job. The relationship between the parents is tense.
Both parents are now dissatisfied with their social worker. They think she doesn't help them. They also feel they are
not getting equal treatment, as they've heard of another family with a child with the same disease, who has
received more benefits.
They are unhappy with the doctor who is treating their son, because their son's condition has deteriorated.
What things/problems are central in the situation?
What cultural factors might affect the situation?

14. Thank you!
WWW.TUKIKESKUSHILMA.FI