Systemic actions for inclusive processes in the implementation of CRPD: involving social professionals as agents of change

Abstract

This article explores several aspects of the processes involved in the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) as part of the work that the research group Studies Centre for Rights and Living Independently has been carrying out in the last 10 years. The training on the job process involving several social work organizations (such as social cooperatives, municipalities, organizations of people with disabilities) has been implemented from 2011 to 2020, focusing on the Enabling co-design approach as a tool for the implementation of CRPD. This paper reflects on the professionals' involvement in the experiences led by the social services (public services and cooperatives) of 34 Municipalities in 4 Regions (Piedmont, Tuscany, Lombardy and Aosta Valley). These experiences show that only when CRPD is at the very core of the work, triggering in practice the paradigm change it envisaged, does it bring about an increasingly articulated reflection on the transformation of services from places of care to places of citizenship, in which social and educational workers can play a core role as agents of change.