Citizenship displayed by disabled people

Abstract

By investigating the processes by which successful teachers become activate citizens and by listening to the diversity and richness of their life and formation stories, this work became possible. Its aim is to display some of the utterances of two Down Syndrome individuals and their active-citizenship activities. Their stories were told in the reports of two teachers when describing their personal and professional history, and were considered to be an integral part of it. Thus, some of the utterances and perceptions with which these two individuals elaborate their references, their worldview and their active-citizenship activity are evidenced in this paper. This article is based on the language conceptions of Vygotsky and Bakhtin who defend the idea that the group and the social mentality are ingrain in the individual. Hence, the history of one person reveals that of many others, since there is a deep link between the individual and the social in the formation of a subjective worldview. As a result, it can be easily seen that the utterances expressed by the participants in this research cannot be considered strictly individual because enunciation is social in nature. Despite the fact that the utterances are those of individuals, they manifest a collective reality. This demonstrates the real advantages and possibilities that deficient people get from their participation and intervention in society.