Abstract Refugees often come from countries with histories of human rights violations and can face multiple challenges in building a new life in Australia. Little is known about the specific experiences of those who also live with a disability, and how this may impact their rights to health. We present an intersectional approach to using arts-based research to bring to light the embodied experiences of these people, who live at the intersection of multiple axes of marginalisation. Bringing together lived experience of displacement and disability, with interdisciplinary researchers and a range of clinicians and service providers, we present an overview of the issues faced by refugees with disabilities in Australia. We then discuss how arts-based research could help to generate academic and policy discourses which are more attentive to the needs, priorities and identities of refugees with disabilities.