La discapacidad y el mundo de la escuela en Siciliaautismo e integración escolar en Palermo

Abstract

The heart of the present work is scholastic integration of disabled persons in Italy in the legislative framework of the theoretical-conceptual models that historically have dealt with it. The reflection on integration is taking place almost fifty years after the passing of Law 118/1971, which in an innovative way created a landmark in the pedagogic tradition of my country for all disabled students: compulsory education must take place in normal classes at state schools (art. 28). In this way Italy began to manifest on the world scene its model of scholastic integration, marked by full participation of disabled pupils in the education and training system, without education of disabled people being separate from ordinary education. In the light of this law the evolutionary process has not stopped, and indeed it has advanced considerably. Therefore after a first part, in which the international historical-cultural framework is introduced and in which the concept of disability and disorders of the autistic spectrum is illustrated, there follows an overview of the legislation on scholastic integration in Italy that tries to open the doors to an understanding of Italian specificities. After a first stage represented by Law 118/1971 aiming at insertion of disabled people in schools, a second decisive passage was Law 517/1977, which specified the principle of integration. This model came quite a few years ahead of what at the international level was then underlined with the Salamanca conference (7-10 June 1995) and with the UN convention on the rights of people with disabilities approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 13 December 2006, which committed all the signatory states to introducing forms of scholastic integration in ordinary classes. This paradigm is the reference point of Law 104/1992, which laid down “the principles of the framework on the subject of rights, social integration and assistance of the handicapped person” (art. 2) and specified the necessary collaborations between school and the social and health services of the territory, making its effects felt down to our day. The organization of the territorial assistance network was finally illustrated for scholastic integration with the orders that followed one another in legislative evolution. Lastly, the fruit of qualitative and quantitative research carried out in primary schools in the city of Palermo through the administration of self-report questionnaires, but also drawing on some qualified opinions of the Minister of Education and the Undersecretary of State for Health and other representatives of institutions consulted as privileged observatories, there was illustrated, with parents, teachers and scholastic executives looking on, the modality of realization of scholastic integration of children with disorders of the autistic spectrum in the territory of Palermo. Taking hints from the research conducted at schools in the city of Palermo in the light of the theoretical frameworks previously delineated, it was possible to illustrate and extend the current picture, to discuss the critical aspects of the planned legislative system for integration and scholastic inclusion of disabled persons and particularly of pupils with disorders of the autistic spectrum, and to appraise the possible remedies for a better perspective on the sphere of serious disabilities. The hope is that this work can contribute to driving away the risk, particularly for disabled people, of experiencing bitter “loneliness”, even precisely because of those people who declare they are and want to be – at the level of daily proximity, in the professional or institutional context – true “friends.” Considering that disability and the theme of personal diversity are more a question of civilization than a legal one, the hope is that we will never see, in any context and in any form, what Milan Kundera said: “A man is condemned to loneliness not by his enemies but by his friends .” La esperanza es que este trabajo pueda ayudar a evitar y a alejar el riesgo, especialmente para las personas con discapacidad, de vivir una "soledad" amarga, tal vez precisamente a causa de quienes se declaran y quieren ser - a nivel de proximidad cotidiana, en el contexto profesional o institucional, - "amigos" de verdad. Dado que la discapacidad y el tema de las diferencias personales son más una cuestión de civilización que de tipo jurídico, la esperanza es que nunca se haga realidad, en todos los contextos y en todas las formas, lo que decía Milan Kundera: "Para condenar a un hombre a la soledad no están sus enemigos, sino sus amigos".