Dall’esclusione all’inclusione. Questioni e possibili itinerari di vita per le persone con impairment intellettivo

Abstract

The aim of this paper is continuing to think about the issues relating to inclusion, because of a
series of reasons that will be illustrated by the author. The same concept of inclusion needs to
be disambiguated, in order to act a transformative process that is necessary for the whole society
for becoming welcoming to all. Exactly as happened in the seventies of the twentieth century,
we think that the educational institution is a privileged place for the encounter with the other
(and, therefore, capable of triggering the inclusive process). In order to remove the stigmawhich
still is around disability, it is important to promote as much as possible such socialization opportunities.
With respect to disability (as will emerge from this paper), it should be reiterated that it is a sociohistorical-
cultural construct and, therefore, that it varies with the changing of practices linked to
it. In this regard, turning our gaze towards adult life (and towards the institutional practices implemented
so far), we think is important to continue to problematize the housing conditions of those
who have intellectual impairment, in order to imagine solutions which could be different from
those acted up to now. If implemented, these solutions would allow the identity development
of the people involved (changing the same meaning of disability).