Navigating Liminality As Young Migrants with Disability in Australia: An Intersectional Perspective

Australia is a migrant country, with more than 7 million migrants and an impending post-pandemic “2023 migration boom” (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2021; Karp, 2023). The notion of the “Australian Dream” continues to attract a diversity of migrants, with the biggest proportion being young adults (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2018). While experiencing a potentially life-changing event of migration (Vitus, 2022), young migrants simultaneously transition from the dependence of childhood to the independence of adulthood with varying structural positions and access to resources (Thomson et al., 2002). Our understandings of these critical life transitions have largely neglected disability, with little to no research exploring the intersections of youth, disability, race/ethnicity and migration in Australia. To understand experiences of liminality across multiple axes of marginalisation, this study uses an intersectional approach to uncover the aspirations of young migrants with disability, as well as the enablers and barriers they face in achieving their aspirations. Using a Pragmatic Action Research strategy comprising of search conferences and life mapping interviews conducted with 18 to 25 year old migrants with disability from the Asia Pacific region (Garratt et al., 2021; Greenwood & Levin, 2007), this study highlights the unique experiences of navigating migration with a disability, and vice versa, where participants perceive both their migrant status and disability as barriers to achieving their aspirations.