Intersectionality and the education of dis/abled asylum-seeking and refugee children in Rome : criticism and discrepancies of "integration- style inclusion" models

Abstract

This thesis is about ‘race’, disability, and the education of unaccompanied asylum seeking and refugee children. Based on nine refugee services in the city of Rome, the study investigates the intersections of ‘race’, disability and migratory status in relation to the educational and social experiences of forced migrant children. Located within the interpretive paradigm, the methodological approach adopted in this qualitative study is constructivist grounded theory. Data collection involved in-depth semi structured interviews with 27 participants divided in two groups, the Professional participants (17), and the Asylum-Seeking and Refugee Children participants (10). It was found that both group of participants sought various strategies to maximize their educational and social experiences through various forms of integrating through disablement: promoting neoliberal integration, SENitizing and disabling refugee children, discriminating discourses and performing discursive agency. In their overall orientation to current models of “integration-style inclusion”, both groups differentially prioritized material and cultural aspects, based on their identity, professional role, knowledge about migration or social context and migratory status. While the Italian professionals emphasized the material conditions of integration, reproducing what the Italian state establishes, forced migrant children – when not performing “the good asylum seeker” focused more on social and participatory elements. A further important finding was that despite having a radical de-segregation policy (i.e. Integrazione Scolastica), asylum-seeking and refugee children are facing barriers such as ableism and racism. They are increasingly labeled as having Special Educational Needs, and constantly disabled, in order for them to receive quality education within mainstream, homogeneous and normative school settings. Discriminating discourses articulated by Italian professionals legitimate processes of SENitization and disablement. This is due to Eurocentric and medical views on diversity and it is the product of un-discussed issues of ‘race’, racism and White supremacy in the Italian context. Further, asylum-seeking and refugee children disrupt the fixity of the notion of ‘vulnerability’ within forced migrant subjects, and a whole array of hegemonic meanings attached to them, thanks to their capacity to perform discursive agency and to make clear their life and educational expectations. Drawing on the intersectional and interdisciplinary framework of Disability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit) and on Judith Butler’s notions of subjectivation and performative politics, the study provides evidence of criticism and discrepancies within current models of refugee reception, and demonstrates how inclusion is conflated within ontologically different and exclusionary meanings of integration. In this configuration, the reception models continue to produce and reproduce educational inequalities of forced migrant children, without determining a systemic change in the teaching and learning practices. The study suggests the urgency to reform educational and social reception policies and practices by adopting an intersectional and anti-racist stance, as well as a social model perspective of disability. Recommendations include further attention to the selection process of professionals operating in refugee agencies, constant pre- and in-service training, transparency and explicitness in communication, and actual transformation of institutions in inclusive terms.