Resumo

MEJIA ZAPATA, Sandra Isabel. Functional diversity and inclusion in Institutions of Higher Education (IES) in Medellín. Interdisciplinaria [online]. 2019, vol.36, n.2, pp.151-164. ISSN 1668-7027.  http://dx.doi.org/10.16888/interd.2019.36.2.10.

The main objective of this article is to present the reality evidenced in the field of higher education and the inclusive policies for people with functional diversities (disability) in the city of Medellin, Colombia. According to this, a qualitative research was implemented that allowed to recognize the perceptions and experience in this population. For this, a deep interview was used, with 25 questions that were focused on three main topics: access to educative opportunities, the conditions for permanence and the recognition of the support given (reasonable accommodations), according to the points of view of different educational actors. This same interview was applied to three different population groups. The first one was formed by 18 university students with functional diversities, between the ages of 22 and 30 years old. The second group was composed of 16 undergraduate students, and two from the postgraduate courses. In addition, they were classified by their functional diversity: ten of them had physical or motor disabilities (two didn’t have upper limbs, two had muscular dystrophy and six had reduced mobility; in this group, four of them were born with those disabilities and two acquired them during their life). The other group had sensorial disabilities (two had deafness, three were blind and three had reduced vision). The third group was composed of 9 university teachers and 9 staff members of the university welfare department. All of them live in Medellin. The information was systematized in the Atlas.ti software and then triangulated. A comparative matrix was elaborated according to the associated principles of continuity, similarity and contrasting significant relations for the analysis and generating the appearance of final categories. In this regard, it is recognized that inclusive education merits universities as the entities which assume places full of transformation. This situation isn’t visualized in this investigation because only one out of nine have been complying. Three of them are in the implementation process and the others assume that inclusive education is where the student has to adapt to the institutional conditions. It was identified that the admission process didn’t take into account equitable conditions. Thus, it would be understanding that the characteristics are comparable at the diverse population, taking into account their needs and abilities. In general, universities don’t provide handicap access to some common places like libraries and auditorium. Functional diversity support is mainly implemented for the population who has reduced mobility; this implies structural adjustments like ramps and elevators, among other possibilities. Only in one out of nine universities there was evidence of the existence of an internal policy put in place to guarantee the conditions needed for people with functional diversity. It is possible that one of the most evident situations has to do with the teacher’s commitment, an aspect that has a considerable impact in the inclusive education. However, in spite of good wills, this question needs go further. It requires skills and training to recognize the support a particular diversity or handicap requires. Most of them expressed concern and anxiety for their ignorance about the matter; that many cases make the reference population invisible. Within the range of competences, it has to develop some skills that include technological, methodological and curricular skills. But also, there are other soft competences that designate creativity, respect, compromise, and tolerance, among others. The educational integration implies a joint effort form all the educational community. Furthermore, the human factor promotes the adaptation process significantly in the educational environment. Meanwhile, they are configured as social supports, in opposition to the barriers established by limiting the participation and recognition of the same. In light of all this, it is important to review and go further than the approaches that are currently applied in the design of the public policies focused in disabilities, to guarantee the constitutional right to a quality education and to also dignify this group and provide them with full participation.

Palavras-chave : Functional diversity; Higher education; Rights; Public policies; Participation.

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