‘I stayed here just for my son:’ the experience of parents of children with intellectual disabilities who migrated from Turkey to Germany

Abstract

The present study focuses on individuals with intellectual disabilities among 2.7 million Turkish citizens who had migrated to Germany since the 1960s. The study aims to determine the services provided for individuals with intellectual disabilities who migrated with or were born to a family that immigrated from Turkey to Germany and explore their lives with qualitative inquiry. For this purpose, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 parents in Germany. Then, the interview transcripts were analysed utilising the content analysis method. The findings determined four themes that revealed that Turkish migrants in Germany were satisfied with the financial, childcare, psychological, and counselling services provided for their children. Parents stated that although they were often exposed to discriminatory behaviour in Germany interwoven with the various partials of their identities, they never experienced discrimination against their children. However, interviewees placed greater importance on speaking the local language than their previous generations. Nevertheless, certain participants indicated their preference for Turkish special education teachers over others. Furthermore, the parents who wanted to relocate to Turkey were unable to do so due to the services offered for their children with intellectual disabilities in Germany.