Por uma universidade inclusiva: práticas colaborativas e desenvolvimento de agência de pessoas com deficiência para a transformação da realidade

Abstract

The basic objective of this dissertation is to develop and analyze collaborative practices that have the intention of expanding the agency of university students with disabilities from a public institution of Higher Education. This is an empirical study, based on the theoreticalmethodological assumptions of Social-Historical Psychology, which has at its core the ethical-political commitment to transformation and social justice, based on a collaborative construction. We bring to the center the discussion of agency, as we understand that it contributes to human development as well as to personal and collective becoming, consequently, it points to the transformation of realities. The data were produced during thirteen meetings with a group of ten university students with disabilities. The information produced was organized into four thematic axes, interpreted and analyzed in the light of the theoretical assumptions adopted. The results pointed out that the agency of people with disabilities tends to be co-opted in the academic environment, given the strong presence of ableism and exclusionary practices that insist on restricting, excluding and invisibilizing this group. We observed that the collaborative movement of this research made it possible to create a support network, unity among peers and the expansion of agency, which seems to us an alternative to confront the capacitist structures of the academic environment and transform this reality. Finally, we recognize that there is still a long process to be followed for effective inclusion, but for changes to begin to happen it depends on multiple, continuous and collective efforts, which involves commitment to social justice. This is a constant reflection/action that we must do as a social and critical subject.