Trajetórias escolares de pessoas com deficiência e as políticas de educação inclusiva 2008-2018: da educação básica ao ingresso por cotas na UFMG

Abstract

The access of people with disabilities to higher education is relatively recent in our country. From 2016, with the inclusion of this public in the Quota Law, the scenario began to change. In 2018, the first students with disabilities joined the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) through this system. This research aimed to analyze, from the Social Model of Disability, the school trajectories of a sample of quota students from UFMG before entering higher education, in interface with the inclusive education policies of the period (2008-2018). The time frame of the research was defined based on the publication of the National Policy on Special Education from the Perspective of Inclusive Education (known as PNEEPEI) and the year in which quotas started at UFMG. In order to carry out the research, a questionnaire was developed and sent to all quota students with disabilities, newcomers in 2018. Of these, 37 answered the questionnaire, composing an initial profile of this audience at the university. Then, 5 students were selected by draw (Physical, Hearing, and Intellectual Disability, Vision Impairment and Autism Spectrum Disorder) to compose the sample. The conduct and analysis of the 5 interviews prioritized the Oral History methodology. To this end, the possible impact of PNEEPEI on the students' school trajectory throughout basic education until their entry into UFMG was taken as the conducting axis. The students' narratives brought back memories of childhood, the relationship with the family, the discovery of the disability, and the support found for development. When looking at school paths, other themes emerged: the types of school (special, inclusive, bilingual), the daily life, the difficulties, the supports and resources found, the relationship with teachers and colleagues, the prejudice and bullying experienced, as well such as the students' perception of inclusive education, the Quota Law and expectations for the future. The reports highlighted the students' own merit and effort to complete their studies, and the family and professional support they found for their development outside and inside the school. These experiences are told in their own words in this study, considering the perspective of the Emancipatory Investigation of Disability. The results showed that, although students had difficulty in naming directly how the 2008 Policy impacted each person's school path, the possibility of schooling in a common school was a differential that allowed access to higher education. They also demonstrated that this access is related to the way disabilities are seen in society. If in the Medical Model disabilities were exclusively in the subject, one of the great merits of PNEEPEI was to consider the Social Model, that is, the need to eliminate barriers so that more and more people with disabilities can live positive experiences of inclusion in order to access higher levels of education.