Bangladeshi family in Australia to face deportation due to child’s ‘mild disability’
“No one would want to socialise with him. They will think other children will catch his disability if they come near him."
A Bangladeshi family living in Australia is due to face deportation next month after their petition for permanent residency (PR) was denied due to their six-year-old son's mild disability.
Adyan suffered a stroke at birth and now lives with a very mild form of cerebral palsy which prevents him from picking up heavy things or climbing, reports the English tabloid Daily Mail.
The parents - Dr Mahedi Hasan Bhuiyan and Dr Rebaka Sultana, with their Australia-born son Adyan bin Hasan, were refused the PR in 2015 after the government said Adyan did not meet the necessary health criteria to live in Australia.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
Despite Adyan's diagnosis, the medical reports show he is cognitively developing like any other normal child.
The Department of Home Affairs ruled against the family's plea to stay in the country, saying the child would require 'ongoing therapy support' and therefore considered a burden on the country's health system.
Dr Bhuiyan said that despite the Department of Home Affairs considering Adyan's health issues a burden on the country's taxpayers, the costs of Adyan's treatment was fully funded by his parents.
Although the government has warned the family of deportation, the Administrative Appeals Tribunal can only overturns decisions if compelling compassionate or humanitarian factors come into play.
Adyan's parents are worried that if Adyan is deported to Bangladesh his development therapies would be stopped, affecting his upbringing.
A petition for the case has been filed at Change.org and it has gained more than 26,000 signatures so far.
Adyan's father said his son would face social discrimination if he was forced to live in Bangladesh.
"No one would want to socialise with him," Dr Bhuiyan told ABC News, adding, "They will think other children will catch his disability if they come near him."
A subsequent appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal was unsuccessful as the governing body said they could not overturn Adyan's health assessment.
The family's last resort is for the Immigration Minister, David Coleman, to intervene in their case and appeal the decision. Without the appeal, the family will be given two weeks' to be deported to Bangladesh.
