Helping newcomers with disabilities build their lives in a new country

Feature Stories | 26 Mar 2024

Photo: Setareh Ghahari (right), students Abdullah Arif, and Anwar Subhani (on Zoom) with some manuals.

It can be challenging for immigrants to navigate healthcare systems and gain the knowledge, skills and confidence to manage their health conditions in their new country. As an occupational therapist (OT) and associate professor in the School of Rehabilitation Therapy, Dr. Setareh Ghahari recognized this problem and wanted to help. She and fellow OTs and healthcare providers recognized common patterns.

For newcomers to Canada, finding appropriate healthcare is one of the many challenges to overcome. As a newcomer unfamiliar with the Canadian healthcare system, you might not know how to find care. If you are not fluent in English or French, navigating the maze of systems and finding culturally relevant care can compound this problem. For individuals with disabilities, these challenges can be even more of a burden. In addition, for healthcare providers, ensuring they have the right support, resources, and knowledge of how to support newcomers with disabilities can prove challenging.

In fact, Dr. Setareh Ghahari regularly received inquiries from colleagues asking if she had any resources to help support these patients with disabilities, particularly those who were refugees.

Working with some volunteer students in the Occupational Therapy and Bachelor of Health Sciences (BHSc) programs, Dr. Ghahari and team began researching information, gathering stories and resources that resulted in a series of seven manuals/modules designed for OT and other healthcare providers that cover everything from cultural competency, working with interpreters, providing trauma-informed care and supporting mental health, to helping access services.

“When we started with the question ‘what do you need to support someone who has a disability and is a refugee?’ we realized there were a lot of unknowns, and the more we asked the more we uncovered,” says Dr. Ghahari. “Understanding this group of people and what supports they need is important as a foundation even before you start working with their disability because otherwise you are missing a lot of steps.”

The manuals took two years to complete as they were unfunded, so they relied on student volunteers and Dr. Ghahari finding the time to put into it. She has since presented the manuals at several conferences and learning sessions for OT professionals working with newcomers, and the response has been very positive. The manuals are free to healthcare providers and researchers (they can sign up to access them through this form).

However, what was learned from this exercise extends beyond the subject material in the manuals. This project is a great example of radical collaboration, which is at the heart of Queen’s Health Sciences’ strategic plan. “I was interested in researching immigrant and refugee health so was referred to Dr. Ghahari to learn more about this project. I did not even know what an occupational therapist did before talking with her,” says Abdullah Arif, a 3rd-year BHSc student who helped edit, design, and finalize the manuals.

“For me, one of the biggest takeaways has been that many professionals often make the wrong assumption that refugees are one monolith. Through this project, I realized there are many different groups with unique characteristics and circumstances, and you have to take many considerations into account,” says Anwar Subhani, a 4th-year BHSc student. Subhani has since been working with Dr. Ghahari to build a supplement to the manuals to address the specific needs of Uyghur Muslim refugees from China. Canada has committed to resettle 10,000 people from this group over the next two years.

“There are a few things, in particular, that I love about this project. One, we are proactively working rather than being reactive to the needs of the community,” says Dr. Ghahari. “Another is that it has resulted in so much good work that is making a big impact. And, it has also allowed students to gain new understanding they wouldn’t have experienced through a course alone.”

Helping newcomers with disabilities build their lives in a new country

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