Persons with disabilities have the opportunity to choose their place of residence and where and with whom they live states the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN, 2006). Starting from this entitlement we have investigated through a multiple case study if and how Italian, German and Swiss residential homes for people with intellectual impairment were changing their practices.

The study was conducted in years 2015-2018 adopting a convergent parallel design mixed methods (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2011). Reasons why we have decided to investigate this institution relate to the time gap in which integrative practices and phenomenon of deinstitutionalisation developed in the three countries. In fact, in Italy these phenomena developed in the Seventies already (Ianes & al., 2020), but Germany and Switzerland decided to close special schools only in recent years (Melzer, 2019). Therefore, our interest was understanding these Countries were doing in order to begin inclusive processes though which community could better welcome people with intellectual impairment.

The theoretical framework refers to both Disability Studies (Barnes et al., 2002; Medeghini & al., 2013) and to Institutional Analysis (Lapassade, 1972; Hess & Weigand, 2008) also to a fruitful dialogue between these two perspectives (Bocci & Gueli, 2019). In fact, their joint assumption allows to bring out the disability as a social construction. Moreover, these perspectives can show disability representations, disabling processes and the role played by institutions both as structures and as relational spaces that generate complex dynamics between people when they embody and exercise different social roles.

Results which will be shown and discussed during the Conference suggest the presence of a medical and childish language (in Italy in particular), the absence in Italy of a sort of support to become adult and a sort of endless mothering in the three countries involved in the study (Guerini, 2020).

References 

Barnes C., Oliver M. & Barton L. (2002). Disability Studies Today. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Bocci F. & Gueli C. (2019). Il rapporto dialettico tra discorso medico e discorso pedagogico. Nuova Secondaria, 37(3): 93-107.

Creswell J. W. & Plano Clark V. L. (2011). Designing and Conducting Mixed Methods Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Guerini I. (2020). Quale inclusione? Milano: FrancoAnegli.

Hess R. & Weigand G. (2008). Corso di analisi istituzionale. Roma: Sensibili alle foglie.

Ianes D., Demo H. & Dell'Anna S. (2020). Inclusive education in Italy. Prospects, 49(3-4): 249-263.

Lapassade G. (1972). L'analyse institutionnelle et l'intervention. Connexions, 4: 65-106.

Medeghini R. & al. (2013). Disability Studies. Trento: Erickson.

Melzer J. (2019). Eine Schule für alle oder Wie inklusive Bildung gelingen kann. Pädagogische Horizonte, 3(1): 129-148.

United Nations (2006). Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.