Evaluation of social cohesion levels of refugees with disabilities in Turkey and social policy proposals

It is known that the biggest problem that refugees face in the country they go to after immigrating from their country of origin is social cohesion. Each country implements different policies in order to coexist with refugees and their own citizens and to ensure social integrity. The process of social cohesion that develops in line with these policies continues intergenerationally and produce different results from integration to assimilation. Turkey, which has the largest refugee population in the world, carries out many different studies on the social cohesion of refugees.Different groups within refugees with heterogeneous structure experience the process of social cohesion in different ways.One of these groups, disabled refugees, may face more disadvantages in the process of social cohesion than other refugee groups due to the disadvantages of being disabled and refugees. It is seen that the work for disabled refugees who need more support is not done adequately. Considering that they did not have a successful social adaptation process, this thesis aimed to understand the levels of social cohesion of refugees with disabilities. The findings obtained by one-on-one interviews with disabled refugees of different nationalities living in Ankara using qualitative research method were discussed through age and gender differences, past lives, family structures, socio-economic levels, gender norms, functionality of existing policies in the field of disability.In line with the disadvantages faced by disabled refugees, it was tried to understand how social cohesion levels were affected and social policy proposals were made in the context of the findings.