Supporting Displaced Students with Disabilities in Post-Secondary Education: An International Scoping Review

Students with disabilities who are forced to leave their homes due to armed conflict, persecution, environmental crises, or other forms of involuntary displacement, within their country or internationally, face compounded barriers to accessing and succeeding in post-secondary education. Yet, their experiences, educational trajectories, and the supports available to them remain underexplored. This scoping review examines existing empirical research on the experiences of students with disabilities in post-secondary education who come from forced migration backgrounds. By addressing the intersection of disability, displacement, and post-secondary education, this review highlights the unique challenges faced by this population as well as supports identified as effective and essential for educational access, participation, and success. Only seven peer-reviewed articles published internationally between 2008 and 2024 were located, revealing a significant gap in research and understanding of these experiences. The findings of this paper were synthesised to identify seven major challenges and 10 enablers that illustrate how financial, social, institutional, and psychological factors impact on these students’ post-secondary education opportunities and success. Directions for further research, as well as recommendations for inclusive education policy and practice in post-secondary contexts – institutions, educators, policymakers, as well as community and government organisations involved in settlement support – are provided.