- Nytt projektstöd beviljat av Arvsfonden för "Disabled Refugees Stories. Adabi - en hållbar struktur för migranters berättande" (sidan på svenska)
The Independent Living Institute (ILI) has been granted SEK 4,768,500 for the project "Disabled Refugees Stories. Adabi – A Sustainable Structure for Migrant Storytelling."
The project aims to develop a structure for how stories—which may include fictional narratives—from persons with disabilities who have arrived in Sweden from other countries can be encouraged, expressed, preserved, and disseminated. The purpose is for the storytelling and the story itself to ultimately be a key to integration, as well as increased representation and participation in society.
Under the name Adabi, which is the Persian word for "storytelling," a program will be created where participants work on their stories in a group setting. These stories will then be collaboratively processed through workshops and writing exercises and disseminated through readings and in book format. The work will be carried out in close cooperation with partners including Sundbybergs folkhögskola (Folk High School) and Tensta Konsthall (Art Gallery). The collected stories will also help fill a gap in our shared and documented cultural heritage, as the Nordic Museum will ensure they are collected and made available on minnen.se. A methodology material will be produced and distributed, primarily to study associations, folk high schools, libraries, and disability rights organizations.
After the three years, the program will be continued together with the project's collaborating partners.
The story is humanity's ancient language. Today, it is perhaps more crucial than ever. For migrants with disabilities, storytelling can be life's most powerful tool, making the dual struggle visible—finding a place in a new country while fighting physical or mental barriers. The story gives power back, allowing the individual to shape their narrative with their own words instead of being defined by statistics and diagnoses.
Listening is just as critical as telling. Only when we open our hearts to others' experiences can understanding take root and compassion grow. In an era where migration and diversity are our shared reality, the story becomes a bridge to a deeper human connection.
That is why our new three-year project, funded by the Swedish Inheritance Fund, is so vital. By supporting storytelling by migrants with disabilities in Sweden—about their lives, journeys, successes, and obstacles—we want to create space for voices that are rarely heard. Through their stories, we can foster understanding, highlight injustice, and demonstrate strength and dreams. To write their histories is not just to document—it is to change lives.