TOWARDS A POLICY OF AFFECTION AND CARE: ACCESS AND PERMANENCE OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES IN UNIVERSITIES

Abstract

This article seeks to provide an in-depth reflection on policies for access and permanence of people with disabilities in Brazilian higher education, using the theoretical lenses provided by studies of care and disabilities. To this end, the analysis will be developed through a critical dialogue with prominent authors in the fields of disabilities, affirmative action, and social differences, in line with statistical data from the 2023 Higher Education Census and with the analysis of relevant legal frameworks and regulations. The perspective will be enriched by the author's personal experience as a professor who welcomes students with disabilities and who experiences disability in the exercise of her academic functions. The approach of care, with particular emphasis on the notion of interdependence, will serve as the guiding thread of this analysis, considering access and retention in conjunction with the centrality of intersubjective relationships in institutional daily life. The primary objective is to design a university that not only welcomes, but also welcomes and interacts more effectively and humanely with the people with disabilities who are part of it.