This text presents a study that investigated the impact on university management practices resulting from the access of students with disabilities to higher education. Eight managers from four universities in the western region of Santa Catarina – Brazil were interviewed to understand the effects of the increasing enrollment of students with disabilities on institutional programs and policies. Through narrative interviews and Discourse Analysis based on Foucauldian references, we found that the presence of students with disabilities in universities drives managers to invest in accessibility and inclusive practices to address teaching and learning challenges, as well as to eliminate architectural, attitudinal, technological, communicational, and informational barriers, among others. Government policies and evaluation instruments from the Ministry of Education play a crucial role in mobilizing managers to implement inclusive practices. However, inclusive rationality requires recognition of human singularity as a way of being and having rights ensured. Therefore, understanding the presence of students with disabilities in higher education and the practices of managers to guarantee their rights and demands involves recognizing the multiplicity of events that constitute the inclusion process—beyond numbers—considering the need to acknowledge difference as a way of being and existing in the world. Inclusion is being constructed as a social and educational project in contemporary times, a multifaceted process whose responsibility is shared across different social spheres, limiting the possibility of quick and simplistic solutions in university management.

Authors:
Joana Maria Moraes Costa, Universidade Comunitária da Região de Chapecó e Ulisboa, Brazil
Tania Mara Zancanaro Pieczkowski, Universidade Comunitária da Região de Chapecó, Brazil

About the Presenter(s)
Joana Maria de Moraes Costa, university technician at UDESC and PhD candidate. Researches inclusion in graduate studies and university management. Will do a sandwich PhD at ULisboa with Prof. Ana Sofia Raposo.

See this presentation on the full schedule – Thursday Schedule

Bookmark