INCLUSION AS A SYSTEMATICALLY CONTESTED CONCEPT: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE CASE OF SCHOOL INCLUSION OF NEURODIVERGENT INDIVIDUALS IN BRAZIL

Abstract

This study begins by noting that conceptual investigations into school inclusion offer an opportunity to critically revisit ableist and classificatory strategies that may persist in academic environments. The present paper develops a conceptual analysis in two stages. The first stage consisted in applying selected techniques from ordinary language philosophy, and the second emerged from the realization that there are not one, but several, paradigmatic uses of the concept of inclusion. This led us to the thesis that inclusion is not simply a plural or vague term, but rather a systematically contested concept, whose meaning is subject to ongoing normative disputes. The analysis draws on everyday uses of the term in school settings particularly in teachers’ discourse and compares them to its uses in theoretical and normative documents. We show that the contested character of the concept is reflected in legislation that regulates its application, in the speech of education professionals, in the advocacy of parents fighting for their neurodivergent children, in political debates, and in various other social domains marked by tension and conflict. In conclusion, we argue that the systematic contestation of the concept of inclusion may reflect not only its internal complexity, but also the persistence of concrete exclusionary situations that inclusion, as an educational and political ideal, seeks to confront.