When the help ends: refugees with disabilities face uncertain future in Hungary
When the help ends: refugees with disabilities face uncertain future in Hungary
Liudmyla (63) is a full-time carer for her son Oleksii (35). They fled to Hungary from Ukraine in 2022 and benefitted from UNHCR’s cash assistance, which became a life-line to cover essential medical and care costs.
It’s a warm day in Vecses, a small suburban town outside Budapest, and four-year-old Murat pushes the door open to the tiny family apartment. Without saying a word, he heads straight to the fridge, opens the door, and grabs a handful of sauerkraut from a plastic bag on the bottom shelf, stuffing it into his mouth with visible satisfaction. His brothers and sisters follow his example, giggling and laughing loudly, while the little boy smiles silently in the middle of this cheerful cacophony.
Murat’s mother, Larysa, fled to Hungary with her mother and five children from Velyki Luchky, a small village near Mukachevo in Transcarpathia, western Ukraine, in July 2023. They joined her husband in Budapest and last year, she gave birth to Adam, now one-year-old.
“Murat was born healthy, but he got meningitis at the age of one and a half,” says Larysa. “He spent four weeks in a hospital. The doctors healed him, but he became deaf. He cannot speak either. He had already been learned to walk before, but after the illness, he could only crawl when he was released from the hospital. He relearned to walk again only in Hungary.”
Murat (4) poses for a photo in their home in Hungary. The family fled western Ukraine in July 2023 and due to Murat’s hearing impairment, they qualified for UNHCR cash assistance for nine months.
The family, belonging to the ethnic Hungarian minority of Ukraine, struggles to make ends meet. Due to changes in Hungarian regulations in August 2024, they lost their right to live in state subsidized accommodation, because they came from a region in Ukraine which is not directly affected by the war.
Each month, the family pays HUF 140,000 (US$ 395) in rent for their small apartment, attached to a sprawling storage facility in the town of Vecses, close to the airport in Budapest. The space is hardly 25 square metres - just one room for eight people with a giant homemade bunkbed, a small kitchen cabinet in the opposite corner, and a tiny bathroom. Nothing more.
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, supported Murat and his family with cash assistance, since temporary protection status holders from Ukraine currently do not qualify for support from the Hungarian government for persons with disability. In parallel, UNHCR continues to advocate for the inclusion of refugees in the national system.
Despite their difficult financial situation, Larysa remains optimistic. Doctors have told her that, depending on the results of some further medical tests, Murat could be a candidate for surgery, after which his hearing may be restored.
For 63-year-old Liudmyla Ratova from Vinnytsia, central Ukraine, her 35-year-old son Oleksii will never recover. He suffered two strokes in 2017 and 2019, due to a rare genetic condition, which triggered a related disease and causes regular fever attacks, constant headaches and other severe symptoms.
The strokes had devastating consequences. Oleksii lost his memory and his ability to speak. Although he eventually relearned how to speak, but only to some extent and he now speaks with a different voice. The young man used to work as a jeweler, and now needs permanent care and supervision. His mother Liudmyla, a former English language teacher, can barely leave him alone.
Liudmyla, a former English language teacher, cannot work because she is unable to leave her son Oleksii alone. Medication is very expensive and the UNHCR cash assistance was a life-line for the family.
“When the war began, we had to flee. Because of Oleksii, I had to buy tickets at the train station for a sleeping compartment so he could lie flat during the journey,” Liudmyla recalls. “The train station was on the other side of the city, and I was terrified to leave him alone, but I had no choice. While I was away, an air raid alarm went off, and I was unable to get home. I only worried that if something were to happen to me, if I were to die, Oleksii would be left alone.”
Liudmyla and Oleksii crossed the border on 5 March 2022, choosing Hungary because she knew that the main medicine taken by Oleksii would be available there. Her biggest concern is to make sure that she can get the medicines her son needs, which cost HUF 600,000 (US$ 1,800) per month. So far, she has been resourceful and has always found local organizations and charities ready to cover the costs.
“If we run out of options, complications will return. I will need to stay with him and try to bring down his fever and ease his pain and other severe symptoms," Liudmyla says.
She cannot work because of Oleksii’s condition, so for the past three years she has been relying on the generosity of friends and strangers. She also used to visit a free food bank weekly, but it closed recently. If Oleksii could be recognized as a person living with a disability in Hungary and supported by the national system, their situation would improve significantly. To make it possible, UNHCR keeps advocating with the Government to include its beneficiaries and other TP holder persons with serious disabilities in their national support system.
Vyacheslav Khasanov, 62 years-old, is from the small village of Vysokyi next to Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine. He is self-sufficient, despite having lost his left leg below his knee in 2022. The first operation took place only weeks before the war, and the second one became necessary in August the same year due to an infection.
He fled to Hungary in December 2023, joining his daughter Oleksandra and her family.
Vyacheslav (62) lost his left leg below the knee in Ukraine. He now lives in Budapest with his wife Tamara (pictured) and other family members.
In Ukraine, Vyacheslav was given a temporary leg prosthesis that did not fit, causing him constant pain. He received a well-fitting, long-term prothesis from his doctors in Hungary in April 2024. “When I first stood on the new prosthesis, it was a fabulous feeling. I got my life back, without pain,” Vyacheslav says.
While the prosthesis was free, the required stockings, medical aids and medications are costly. The seven-member family rents a small apartment outside Budapest. Initially, they received support from the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta, but that support has since ended. They now rely on the modest subsistence allowance provided by the state for temporary protection holders. Their last UNHCR cash assistance payment was in May 2025. To make it even worse, the work of Oleksandr, Vyacheslav’s son-in-law, the family’s sole breadwinner, has also become unstable.
“Cash assistance provided by UNHCR has been a lifeline for refugees who live with disabilities,” says Dorottya Atol, UNHCR’s Assistant Protection Officer in Hungary. “Often, they are not able to work, and in most cases their relatives take care of them full time, so they cannot have a job either. In addition, these people usually have extra expenses due to their condition. Inclusive cash programming is central to UNHCR's commitment to leaving no-one behind."
Unfortunately, the global humanitarian funding crisis has already forced UNHCR to significantly reduce its cash assistance programme in Hungary, and it will come to its end by the end of 2025.
“Cash assistance is not just financial support – it's a tool for dignity and self-reliance. For persons with disabilities, it means the power to choose, to participate, to thrive.” Dorottya Atol, Assistant Protection Officer
For refugees living with disabilities in Hungary, the future is uncertain. For Murat’s family, they are already contemplating the impact of not being able to afford their rent. “At a certain point, we might need to go back to Ukraine,” Larysa says. “That would kill the hope that Murat will be able to hear ever again. He would remain deaf and lose his chance to live a full life.”
