Trapped in Limbo: Effects of a Medical Perspective on Education of Children with Disabilities

ARCIDIÁCONO, ANA DEL PILAR; BARRERA LETICIA

Research Handbook on Law, Society and Medicine

Edward Elgar Publisher. Law and Society Research Series

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2020; p. 35 - 58

Our analysis builds upon the case of Alan Rodríguez, a young person with Down Syndrome, who after completing high school in a mainstream private school in CABA, and despite having passed all subjects did not receive his high school diploma. Instead he received a nonofficial diploma of graduation; a certificate that did no accredit ?the completion? of his studies. As we will explain in more detail later on, Alan and his family decided to file a law suit against the Government of the City of Buenos Aires (GCBA) and the school demanding they grant him this official certificate. As of today, this diploma has not been issued in the conditions requested. Our research has included the reading of the judicial dossier, archival and document analysis, interviews with Alan Rodriguez?s attorneys, representatives of a coalition of NGOs that advocate for Inclusive Education in Argentina, and judges. We have also engaged in informal conversations with special education teachers and parents of disabled children with experience in litigation against health insurance companies for the coverage of special education assistance in mainstream schools. Working with and for this cause has provided knowledge of this field of Inclusive Education and of the different subjectivities that are at work with relation to the inclusion of people with disabilities. It has also given us insight as to the relationships between the groups, the conflicts, the agreements, the practices, and the procedures that characterize this social universe which extend beyond the courts. However, for the purposes of this essay, our analysis will focus on the bureaucratic (administrative and judicial) waiting which Alan Rodriguez is being forced to undergo. In doing so, we also seek to reflect on the impact of such process of waiting on the subjectivity of a person that belongs to a group whose access to rights is mediated by certification practices related to their disability.These practices involve medical meetings, physical, psychological, cognitive, and socio-educative evaluations, and extend throughout the person?s life.