Sujeitos surdos na escola: entre a inclusão formal e a exclusão real

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to address the formal inclusion of deaf subjects in public schools, based on the Theory of Social Representations, particularly in its structural perspective. For this purpose, the specific objectives describe the process of construction shared representations in the history of deaf people schooling, in the main national and international documents of deaf rights and in empirical studies conducted, mostly, with teachers from regular schools. Based on the Central Core Theory, it is possible to conclude that the changes in Brazilian legislation, which had the purpose of including deaf people in schools on an equal footing with other students, constitute changes only in the legal plan, which are developed in the peripheral subsystem and does not alter the stability of the central core of social representations of deaf people, based on incapacity, inaptitude and disqualification to occupy collective spaces. Therefore, despite all the legal advances and the creation of a special legal protection system, deaf people remain excluded. This happens because the formally constituted changes in the peripheral subsystem are not enough to modify the cognitive elements stabilized in the central core. Consequently, education based on respect of the linguistic and cultural differences of deaf subjects must be continually promoted in order to change social perceptions about this vulnerable group, mainly in schools. The research used national and international documents, as well as books and works published in qualified national periodicals about the theme.