Associations for disabled people in Italy: A pedagogical exploration

This article offers an overview on the studies and research carried out and coordinated by the author on the Italian phenomenon of associations for the disabled and their families, through both historical–sociological and pedagogical analyses. Combining methodological elements of both historical recognition and qualitative/quantitative analysis, the present research aims to highlight the role of advocacy played by the associations since they were established, and their contribution to determining the historical and political events that, beginning in the 1970s, have characterized the Italian methodology for educational and social integration. What emerges is how family associations have contributed to the civic development and social-political change of the entire country. The pedagogical approach to the associationist phenomenon becomes part of the cultural process by which parenting is valued and enables prejudices that some of the literature, with a sociological and psychodynamic matrix, had previously generated in regard to the conditions of families with a disabled member to be overcome. Thus, the fundamental contribution of the associations is clearly understood, both in the reorganisation of services for the person and in the realization of care areas, relational enrichment, cultural and organisational stimulation during the development and promotion of the integration process for disabled people. Starting with the needs of the latter, the role of the associations as subjects promoting citizenship and innovators for the entire society seems equally obvious. However, it must be also emphasized that lately the associationist phenomenon has been facing a period of evolution in its internal organization related to the changes that have occurred in the recent welfare policies dictating further investigation and consideration.