Introduction
Many of us dream of a school open to all children, no matter where they come from, their difficulties, or their disability. In France, the laws of February 11, 2005 “for the equality of rights and opportunities, participation and citizenship of persons with disabilities” and July 26, 2019 for “the school of trust” were born through the conception of a society which must be inclusive.
The aim of this article is to demonstrate benefits and limitations that meet the inclusive school project essentially from the intervention of a philosopher, André Guigot, during the conference “Youth and future” at Pouliguen in November 2019. His speaking begins with the exploration of the experience of otherness, then he explains the concept of disability and inclusion in its second and third parts.
I The experience of otherness
Guigot immediatly highlights a first problem : « Respect the others, is it to include them at a distance, in their difference, in order to respect them, at the risk of missing their integration, or is it all try to integrate them by insisting on their proximity, but then risking to deny them in their specify or disability ? » (Guigot, 2019). Then, the philosopher demonstrates the richness of differences, as much for typical children and adults as for people with disabilities. However, in front of this change that come with the inclusive school, we have to be careful not to reproduce an exclusion towards children in difficulty who don’t have any disability, and for whom any kind of adaptation is directly set up.
Guigot explains that it is finally this experience of difference that constitutes the foundation of inclusive school. To understand the feeling of exclusion -that everyone may be feel during his life-, he refers to the description that Sartre did about the shame : it’s a reduction of the ego « in a state of body for others », « a feeling of falling within oneself ». By representing this particular psychological state induced by the perception that others have of our person, we understand even better the need to include.
II The concept of disability
In this second part, the author explains that the handicap is, on the one hand, relative to the norms of a society and, on the other hand, absolute for people who live with the « objective limits imposed by their body to their action »(Guigot, 2019)
By proposing the project of an inclusive school, we also have to « redefine », in a general way, the report of the society with mental handicap. By the way, in his book « History of madness in the Classical Age » (1961), Foucault shows that the definition of madness has been constantly evolved. For instance, during the Middle Age, there was no way to put people with madness in jail. On the contrary, magical skills could be attributed to them. On the 17th century, the policy of « Great Confinement » was implemented, depriving liberty those who wasn’t in societal norms. Indeed, madness was no longer characterized as a radical difference but as a form of alienation, therefore by defining it as a « confinement in oneself », people could justify exclusion.
Nowadays, « by considering persons with mental disability no longer have to be « locked up » because no longer to be defined essentially as « insane », the institutions themselves must in principle open to the world of school, the world of work, as these worlds must absolutely accept them in their specificity. » (Guigot, 2019)
III What does « include » means ?
Finally, according to Guigot, « to include » means three things : understand, act and hope. Understand because we have to updating knowledge on disability. Act because we have to implement concrete things from what we understood. And finally hope, to project oneself into the future. However, « the problem is to know if what we want at any price” to include” thepeople with disabilities is a priori so legitimate that the inclusion itself must be imposed . »
Indeed, what about the well-being of children with disabilities? How to be certain that they will be happier in a typical school than in an institution specialized to take care of them and of their troubles ? Who is asking this inclusion? Guigot concludes this part with these words: “It is in the name of a certain theory of society, of a certain theory of inclusion that we come to consider that schools, colleges and high schools must concretely produce this integration effort. It’s not to face this doctrine head-on, but just to remind all form of modesty of principle. “
Discussion
It is also legitimate to ask whether society is ready for this change. The school inclusive is also facing a political challenge. The abolition of specialized institutions allows to lighten the loads of the State. It is necessary to recall here that the equal rights and opportunity should not be used as an excuse to make savings that would worsen the situation and well-being of children, teachers and social workers.
The aim into sharing this intervention to developmental psychologists is to incite them to constantly question their positions, in order to act for the “best interest of the child “(CIDE, 1989), and in accordance with the code of ethics of psychologists. I think it’s very important to step back from one’s beliefs, and to think about the impacts of the changes of the society that concern the world of psychology.
Words / Expressions I have learned :
The report of : le rapport à
At any price : à tout prix
To face head-on : attaquer de front
To lighten the loads : alléger les charges
To make savings : faire des économies
Pinçonnet Louis