Medicine and special pedagogy
Patrizia Gaspari
Historically, the dialectical relationship existing between medicine and special pedagogy has proved crucial and paradigmatic in the constant critical debate and the unavoidable new epistemological interpretation of the science of inclusion and diversity. A democratic debate on equal terms and with interdisciplinary reciprocity must be promoted between educational care, declined as an intentional educational act and the global care of every individual, and medical and health care, in its therapeutic and rehabilitative meaning. At the same time we must avoid falling into the trap of deterministic and reductionist subordination, typical of the «arrogant», hyper-specialised and dominant logics of medicalisation. We are talking about disciplinary approaches which, in their necessary contaminations and productive synergies, mean to see the individual with disabilities pursue optimal levels of existential well-being. This is especially important in conditions of fragility and vulnerability which characterise the complexity of the human existence, further pronounced by the dramatic, marginalising, aggressive challenges posed by the unexpected Covid-19 pandemic. The reactivation of a productive dialogue between medicine and special pedagogy has become of fundamental importance. One that is capable of breaking the isolation caused by the forced solitude of the weakest in society, in order to rebuild new territories and paths which encourage proximity, and to plan regenerative programmes and care actions belonging to a new kind of humanism, characterised by authentic and significant social and cultural relationships in the main life contexts.
Keywords
Special pedagogy, medicine, educational care, medicalisation, coronavirus.
