University student Silvano Furtado da Costa e Silva, 23, was in the 8th period at the Faculty of Law of the University of São Paulo (USP), when he was diagnosed with autism, in 2020. World Autism Awareness Day. Silvano Furtado helped build the Pedagogical Accessibility Policy (PAP) of the USP Faculty of Law – Personal archive “In the first year of the pandemic, I had several psychological issues, I underwent some treatment and I had my autism diagnosis. I was a little vulnerable. In an open meeting between students and college student representation, I said at the time that I would not set foot in this building again after earning my degree if the college did not change the way it deals with its neurodivergent students.” Silvano’s demonstration led to his being invited to join the students’ representation. “Thus, we began to design a policy of alternative assessments of pedagogical accessibility within Largo de São Francisco [local da faculdade]”, said. The university student collaborated in the construction of the Pedagogical Accessibility Policy (PAP) of the USP Law School, one of the oldest and most traditional in Brazil. PAP, implemented in August 2022, is aimed at students diagnosed with pervasive developmental disorders, such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD). “São Francisco is the only public college in Brazil to have a policy like this, which in itself is brilliant, because such norms, if complied with, are capable of achieving inclusion. But, in my view, the great merit of this policy was to have acted against the invisibilization of autistic people in the academic world and put the debate on the table about neurodiversity”, points out Guilherme de Almeida, president of the National Association for the Inclusion of Autistic People (Ania /BR). For the researcher, the Pedagogical Accessibility Policy is a powerful regulation in favor of guaranteeing the rights of neurodivergent people. Guilherme recalls that the PAP represents compliance with the Brazilian Law of Inclusion, the Federal Constitution of 1988, and international treaties to which Brazil is a signatory, in particular the New York Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. According to the most recent data from the 2021 Higher Education Census, in Brazil, 4,018 people with pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) are enrolled in face-to-face and distance undergraduate courses. Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is one of the five types of PDD. Therefore, all those who have some degree of ASD have a TGD. The census is carried out annually by the National Institute of Educational Studies and Research Anísio Teixeira (Inep), an institution linked to the Ministry of Education. Politics “The Faculty of Law of Largo do São Francisco, as the first faculty in Brazil, would have to, in terms of tradition, show that it is possible to break with ‘anti-quadrism’. So we started working”, remembers Silvano. The PAP establishes that students who need differentiated pedagogical assistance may previously request adaptations of tests and other evaluative activities and additional time, reserved place or assistance to carry out the tests. Considering the Brazilian inclusion laws, the policy aims to “overcome ordinary limitations and promote reasonable accommodations aimed at guaranteeing academic performance conditions”. For Silvano, the policy is one of the steps towards the inclusion of people with the autistic spectrum. “It is an element of permanence, there are others, such as the evaluative element, which is necessary to finish the course. But I believe that there are other initiatives that we still need to deal with, for example, the student relationship. We always talk about the teacher-student relationship, which is a power relationship, which can be conflicting, but there are horizontal conflicts between students, such as bullying, which for autistic people is something complicated, which affects us”, he explains. For him, the biggest barrier is still the attitudes of people with autistic people. “These are not engineering barriers. They depend on changes in attitudes, people have more difficulty changing attitudes than the shape of a building ”, he adds. Silvano is hopeful that future generations can, in fact, be included in higher education. “I hope that the number that USP as a whole has, of so few people with disabilities, reverts to a real change, that people occupy these chairs and feel comfortable in occupying these chairs, in going to class, in speaking, in to be themselves, without the fear of being ridiculed, without the fear of being treated like low-quality human beings, that is one of my hopes.” He is still undecided in which area of law he will work when he graduates. “I have two areas in mind, the first is criminology and the second is digital law, so as not to abandon my aptitude for computing.” The university student explains that law was not his first option. “I was in the middle of the selection process at the Consulate of Japan to try computer science at the Imperial University of Tokyo until I decided that I didn’t want the course anymore, nor to go to Tokyo. I decided that I wanted it right and, as it is a course that is very nationally based, I ended up choosing USP as the first and best option”, he says. Inclusion with humanization “The great beauty of discussing inclusion is that you cannot do it in a sectarian, identitary way, after all, you only include involving the whole”, says Guilherme de Almeida, president of Ania/BR, who is also an education researcher inclusive at the State University of Campinas (Unicamp). He is 40 years old and found himself to be autistic at 37. Guilherme explains that there are several difficulties that autistic people face in accessing higher education. “Starting with the entrance exam, which does not adequately and fairly assess students’ skills and knowledge, as it is based on a single standardized test. The way autistic people think and process information is absolutely different from the way non-autistic people do it.” Another barrier, according to the president, “is in an idea contained in the famous phrase ‘but if you’ve come this far, you don’t need adjustments'”. “For me, this goes beyond ignorance and borders on criminality. Any university professor, with a minimum of sensitivity, understands how challenging college can be for anyone. Anxiety and depression, eating disorders, substance abuse, Burnout syndrome are just a few examples of reality at universities. If this is already very complicated for anyone, for autistic individuals it has a much greater destructive potential, it is worth remembering that suicide is the greatest cause of unnatural death among autistic people”, he warns. For the representative of Ania/BR, there is a lack of humanization so that there is, in fact, the inclusion of people with disabilities in higher education. “Inclusion aims to create an environment where everyone can participate and feel welcome. For there to be inclusion, there is a lack of humanization, a lack of commitment to ethical and social development, a lack of sharing, a lack of union. Accessibility is a tool, inclusion is ‘unprecedented and viable’, as Paulo Freire wanted.” Right to Difference During the last week, the Faculty of Law of USP hosted the 2nd International Symposium on Inclusion in Higher Education – The Right to Difference. Promoted by Ania/BR, the event brought together experts from universities in different countries and people with disabilities in round tables and lectures on autism and its relationship with Brazilian society. Present at the event, professor César Nunes, professor of philosophy and education at Unicamp’s Faculty of Education, spoke about humanizing pedagogy as an instrument for the inclusion of differences. “Autistic people do not find any special policy of access and guarantee of humanized quality and permanence in the institution among people with disabilities”, said the professor, in an interview with Agência Brasil. He explains that access to higher education in Brazil is difficult for autistic people and, in general, for people with disabilities. “Access is different to public universities and private universities. Public universities maintain a tradition that is a little more rigorous and is often extremely exclusionary, and private universities, with their differences, have an admission model that is more focused on economic and commercial issues, making the selection process more flexible, but at the same time, mercenalizing the formative process.” For Nunes, Brazilian society needs to overcome historical marks and prejudices. “When society becomes more democratic and accessible, educational and school institutions will also be. Public policies for access to higher education must take ownership of the legal, philosophical, pedagogical and democratic characteristics of the Brazilian Constitution to promote an education where there is space and place for everyone. And inclusion policies should consider the specificity of the autistic condition”, he opines. The teacher explains that pedagogy, by its nature, is already an instrument for the inclusion of differences. “Pedagogy is a multiple science that works with the various dimensions of the educational act, it should already be inclusive, because pedagogy consists of seeking to understand the human condition, which is different in each human being, and based on difference, diversity, promote inclusion and the dignified and humanely qualified permanence of all”, says the specialist.
Agência Brasil
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