Disability studies in Education in Italy: Making connections

Dan Goodley gave a keynote at the first Italian Disability Studies conference held between the 30th and 31st May 2017 at the University Roma Tre, Rome, Italy. This was an opportunity for Dan to share disability studies research taking place both in the University of Sheffield’s School of Education and iHuman (a new research institute which seeks to analyse the human in the 21st Century of which disability is a key consideration). The conference brought together over 200 delegates including teachers, researchers, practitioners and students. Dan said:

This was a real opportunity to meet and debate with colleagues from the University Roma Tre’s Disability Studies Research Unit Members and researchers from the GRIDS, Research Group on Inclusion and Disability Studies including Fabio Bocci, Simona D’Alessio, Angelo D. Marra, Roberto Medeghini, Giuseppe Vadalà, Enrico Valtellina and Valentina Migliarini). These colleagues are advancing some incredibly exciting research and intellectual projects that seek to connect disability studies with inclusive approaches to education, pedagogy and culture. I look forward to working with colleagues more in the future especially around new theories of disablism and ableism in a world of post-austerity.

The conference allowed Dan to introduce conference delegates to the new project led by Kirsty and Dan https://livinglifetothefullest.org/. This project will bring to the fore the perspectives of disabled young people with life limiting impairments.

Dan will be contributing an Italian text on disability studies. For more information on work by Italian colleagues, see the open access Italian Journal of Disability Studies:
http://www.edizionianicia.it/store/content/category/13-italian-journal-of-disability-studies.