Refugee Empowerment Task Force
VISION
To provide a forum for dialogue and informational exchange between rehabilitation practitioners and community representatives interested in working with displaced and conflict-affected populations.
MISSION
- To publicly attend to, identify, quantify, address the needs of the individuals with disabilities who are living as refugees or asylum seekers in various parts of the world
- To find innovative ways to augment, empower and support ongoing humanitarian projects led by local and international organizations actively working with refugees with disabilities with the rehabilitation research and clinical know-how of task force members
GOALS
- To facilitate interdisciplinary scholarly projects
- To foster connections among task force members and community representatives
- To build competencies within the rehabilitation workforce
UPCOMING MEETING
I-ISIG REFUGEE EMPOWERMENT TASK FORCE MEETING
Join us this month to discuss the 2024 ACRM Annual Conference, Task Force updates, and new projects. We welcome your participation.
Save the date!
October Meeting Cancelled We hope to see you at the ACRM Annual Fall Conference in Chicago!
DATE: Second Friday of each Month
TIME: 3:00 PM Eastern
Open Microsoft Teams or go to https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/join-a-meeting
Enter Meeting ID: 217 705 932 853
Click Join.
Enter the Passcode: Rh3J7GE2
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CHAIR
Mansha Parven Mirza, PhD, OTR/L
CHAIR
Associate Professor, Department of Occupational Therapy
University of Illinois at Chicago
2025 Goals
- Recruit more members to the task force, especially members from middle and low-income countries.
- Launching a ‘Call for Papers’ for special issue showcasing interdisciplinary perspectives on refugees with disabilities (journal TBD)
2024 Accomplishments
- Co-authored a manuscript published in the Archives of PM&R on addressing the rehabilitation needs of refugees in resettlement countries.
- Successfully submitted proposal for a symposium titled ‘Employment Disparities Faced by Refugees with Disability Living in the U.S.’ for ACRM 2024 Annual Conference.
- Members published in peer reviewed academic papers and presented at international conferences.
- Developed a research brief on employment integration of refugees with disabilities resettled in the US.
- Publication
- Mirza, M., Trimboli, C., Hartman, J., Gamble, A., Rfat, M., Bentley, J., Gross, M., Alheresh, R., Hussein, Q., & Markos, T. (2024). Examining barriers to rehabilitation and addressing rehabilitation needs among persons with forced migration experiences: Interdisciplinary perspectives. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 105(9), 1793–1806. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apmr.2024.05.002
2024 GOALS
- Recruit more members to the task force, especially members from middle and low-income countries.
- Developing multimedia content on the experiences and rehabilitation needs of refugees and other forced migrants
- Developing an I/EP (information and education papers) for Archives of PM&R
2023 ACCOMPLISHMENTS
- Successfully submitted a ‘special communication manuscript to the Archives of PM&R on addressing the rehabilitation needs of refugees in resettlement countries.
- Successfully submitted proposal for a symposium titled ‘Community-Engaged Trauma-Informed Care in Refugee & Asylum Seeker Rehabilitation Programming In North America’ for ACRM 2023 Annual Conference.
- Members published in peer reviewed academic papers and presented at international conferences.
- Attracted international membership.
