The education of Persons with Disabilities has always been a phenomenon of key importance, as it’s have been feasibility and methodology analyzed multiple times over the years, in all educational contexts. In our presentation, the evolution of people with disabilities in the Greek education system is presented. Greece, based on the educational standards of other European states, adopts policies for the education of people with disabilities and their integration in the educational process, but also in society. From the 1930s to the present, many pieces of legislation have been enacted and implemented for the education of people with disabilities in primary and secondary education. An evaluation of these legislations is attempted, with a view to both the training of disabled people and the efforts to integrate them into work and society in general. The thematic field of different views on disability is approached, in direct correlation with the evolution of the rights of people with disabilities and the gradual transition from the medical to the social model for disability. Furthermore, the development of theories about disability is linked to the development of education issues for people with disabilities. Educational issues of people with disabilities in Greece are specialized and the transition from care institutions to organized education is presented in detail with reference to corresponding evolutionary phases of special education in Greece, up to the year 2000. In combination, educational issues of people with disabilities are analyzed, which expand with their professional education until 2019.

According to the Disability Studies perspective, the concept of disability can only be interpreted as a social construct, related to the historical and geographical context, adopted policies and disseminated narratives (Medeghini, Valtellina, 2006). People who do not correspond to the dominant norm are subjected to policies of disablement and social oppression (Oliver, 1990; Davis, 2006). Therefore, people with disabilities can be considered, to all intents and purposes, victims of a symbolic violence (Schianchi, 2019) that has contributed to the social exclusion and a liminal position (Murphy, 2017). Education plays an important historical role: it can promote inequalities or generate trend reversals by contributing to the internalisation of widespread thought patterns (Vadalà, 2018). In addition, the "difficult history of the handicapped" (Canevaro, Goussot, 2000) has always been linked to socio-historical removals: since it has always been written by indirect subjects, it is essentially a history of power relations. In the history of disability, the 1970s in Italy represent a key moment. The political-ideological mobilisation of student movements and the contribution of associations of disabled people and their families (Mura, 2017) lead to a favourable climate for processes of de-institutionalisation of disabled. Important regulatory measures (Law no. 118/71, Law no. 517/77) conduct to the inclusion of disabled in mainstream classes; although this process is a paradigmatic breakthrough, it is not free from criticality and resistance (Zago, 2020). This Italian epochal change is mostly represented in a univocal and linear manner in the present narratives, also conveyed to young people today. It is important, however, to rethink from an historical-educational perspective how these shifts were dealt with, restoring complexity to this significant passage: what were the common feelings on the subject? What were the experiences, even conflicting, of teachers? What were the educational communications at school and, above all, what did the pupils think about this process that would directly involve them? Answering these questions is a complex research task that requires the integration of multiple sources of different origins and types. Among the most relevant documents is a 1976 issue of the “Biblioteca di Lavoro” editorial series, coordinated by Mario Lodi (Gianola, 1976). The series aims to propose alternative readings to schoolchildren and to disseminate good active teaching practices by placing school and social issues in a close relationship. The booklet narrates a survey on the “handicapped” conducted directly from an Italian classroom through questionnaires and interviews with family members, citizens and professionals. Not only this represents a rare testimony of the presence of this topic in the everyday school life, but the pages allow to reconstruct some of the most widespread opinions about disabled people and discordant positions on their possible inclusion in mainstream schools. In the file are also transcribed the views of the students themselves discussing on the issue after visiting a special school. Examining this source, in the light of Disability Studies theories, evidence the social conflicts at such a significant moment in history and the role that education can play in disability inclusion.

The reflection on inclusive processes is linked to the emergence of important dimensions of existential fulfilment for the disabled person. The cultural is represented by the instances of emancipation and scholastic and social participation, in the widespread belief that condition of disability pertains to a complex combination of multiple factors, rather than to an expression of minority life. These are convictions that are largely based on the political cultural efforts that have guided the intervention of the Italian State since the sixties of the twentieth century and urge pedagogy to requalify itself according to new perspectives: the awakening of marginality implies the opening of new frontiers, of new paths of education that are historically completely new. This phenomenon affects all the conditions of all people with disabilities and has affected, albeit with a thousand differences, Italian public schools, of all levels. It is a long and dense story, within which there are extraordinary experiences, skills ad passions. Without going into the merits of the many issues that over the years have accompanied the difficult transition from insertion to integration and, from integration to inclusion, we can report that the Italian history in favor of the inclusion of disabled people is closely connected to the educational field and to the change in the school system. In fact, the path towards the integration of disabled in Italy has its roots precisely in the phenomenon of schooling and in the progressive abolition of special institutes and differential classes and in the gradual integration into ordinary schools. This is propitious moment in which the transition from exclusively medical and rehabilitative interventions to a new conception of educability of the subject takes place, even if in part. In fact, thanks to the contributions of special pedagogy and child neuropsychiatry, the centuries old distinction between recoverable and irretrievable, placed at the foundation of the separation between normal and disadvantaged pupils, is finally being questioned: attention now shifts to the potential and margins of recovery of maladjusted subjects, trying to remove them from the condition of isolation and separation in which they had always been maintained. There is no longer any doubt about what the formative and educational environment of subject in develop mental age should be: the same school for all, which must not offer everyone either the same path or the same tools. An emphasis that implies the recognition, acceptance and management of diversity in the awareness that the construction of each person’s identity requires the acceptance and confirmation of his or her individuality.

La réflexion sur les processus inclusifs est liée à l’émergence de dimensions importantes de l’épanouissement existentiel de la personne handicapée. Le cadre culturel dans lequel s’inscrit une telle conscience est représenté par les instances d’émancipation et de participation scolaire et sociale, dans la croyance largement répandue que la condition de handicap relève d’une combinaison complexe de multiples facteurs, plutôt que d’une expression de la vie minoritaire. Ce sont des convictions qui, dans une large mesure, se fondent sur les efforts politico-culturels qui ont guidé l’intervention de l’État italien depuis les années soixante du XXe siècle et qui poussent la pédagogie à se requalifier selon de nouvelles perspectives: l’éveil de la marginalité implique l’ouverture de nouvelles frontières, de nouvelles voies d’éducation historiquement totalement nouvelles. Ce phénomène touche toutes les conditions de toutes les personnes handicapées et a affecté, bien qu’avec mille différences, les écoles publiques italiennes, de tous les niveaux. C’est une histoire longue et dense, au sein de laquelle il y a des expériences, des compétences et des passions extraordinaires. Sans entrer dans les mérites des nombreuses questions qui, au fil des ans, ont accompagné la difficile transition de l’insertion à l’intégration et, de l’intégration à l’inclusion, nous pouvons constater que l’histoire italienne en faveur de l’inclusion des personnes handicapées est étroitement liée au domaine éducatif et au changement du système scolaire. En effet, le chemin vers l’intégration des handicapés en Italie trouve ses racines précisément dans le phénomène de la scolarisation et dans l’abolition progressive des instituts spéciaux et des classes différenciées et dans l’intégration progressive dans les écoles ordinaires. C’est le moment propice où s’opère le passage d’interventions exclusivement médicales et de réadaptation à une nouvelle conception de l’éducabilité du sujet, même partiellement. En effet, grâce aux apports de la pédagogie spécialisée et de la neuropsychiatrie de l’enfant, la distinction séculaire entre récupérable et irrécupérable, à la base de la séparation entre élèves normaux et élèves défavorisés, est enfin remise en question : l’attention se porte désormais sur les potentiels et les marges de récupération des sujets inadaptés, en essayant de les sortir de la condition d’isolement et de séparation dans laquelle ils avaient toujours été maintenus. Il n’y a plus de doute sur ce que devrait être l’environnement formatif et éducatif du sujet en âge de développer : la même école pour tous, qui ne doit offrir à tous ni les mêmes chemins, ni les mêmes outils. Une emphase qui implique la reconnaissance, l’acceptation et la gestion de la diversité dans la conscience que la construction de l’identité de chaque personne passe par l’acceptation et la confirmation de son individualité.

The military operations of the Second World War came to an end in Hungary in the spring of 1945. After a brief transitional period of the victorious powers alliance policy, Hungary became part of the Soviet imperial zone after 1947 (Romsics, 2010). Our investigation into the development of Hungarian special education after 1945 is based on the initial thesis that following the political rearrangement after the Second World War, a new chapter began in the history of the Hungarian special education in 1945. The characteristics of the discipline from previous decades were reshaped and laid the groundwork for the changes that would occur in the 1950s. This study examines the transformation of the education of children with disabilities during the Rákosi dictatorship period by reviewing the main features of the era's educational science and school affairs. Our methodology relies on qualitative thematic analysis, drawing from uncovered press and literary sources. The application of qualitative research methods, such as source, document analysis and content analysis allowed for the examination of different layers of meaning in events and texts to provid a systematic analysis of the subject. Between 1945 and 1953, profound changes occurred in the Hungarian special education institutional system similar to other social subsystems. It is evident from the reviewed sources that certain scientific fields gained prominence in special education institutions due to the ideology of political power. The special education of the post-1945 era and its practitioners were also subjected to the external pressures of the era's politics, the ideological uniformity of the emerging one-party system, and the scientific convictions subjected to power considerations. Their possibilities were limited regarding the assumption of scientific freedom. The interpretation of disabilities in the natural sciences approach had been accepted in previous decades. Therefore, the results of Soviet physiological and biological research aimed at exploring the functioning of the nervous system seamlessly integrated into the knowledge base of special education (Mesterházi, 1988). The presentation provides insight into the establishment of the special education institutional network of the era, the process of selecting children for special education, the discipline characteristics of Hungarian special education at the beginning of the Rákosi dictatorship, and the theoretical and practical diversity of special education representatives.

Using the examples of two trends aimed at diversity-proofing the education system in time, this paper elaborates on the paradigm shift from individual to systematic goals in inclusive education. This mirrors historical developments of different approaches to cope with the dilemma of difference, described by Norwich (2008) as a central systematic to understand problems related to identification, placement and curriculum in inclusive education. Once identified, placed and assigned to a curriculum type in accordance with a specific systematic, the question of who is in and out is pre-determined and thereby no longer inclusive. Looking back in history this is also mirrored by the reference to supporting specific groups (e.g.Salamanca Statement) vs. addressing the need for communal efforts (e.g. SDGs) in the context of integration/inclusion. Historicizing the approaches, policies and specific curricula situating learners inside and outside the classroom and/or social group will help to understand ongoing injustices and the (emotional) call for decolonised and diversified spaces. The (non-existent?) history of trauma-informed approaches and German language support classes stand exemplary for two tendencies aimed at supporting diverse student populations to thrive. Trauma-informed approaches are characterised by the idea of moving from individualized intervention to involving whole organisations in efforts to understand, identify and prevent traumatization, trauma-related triggers and trauma-enabling environments. The idea to thereby support everyone, regardless of whether (ever)(to be) traumatized or not, is often re-interpreted according to culturally standardized notions of who is considered a potential survivor of trauma (Zembylas 2022). By diversifying narrations of the past and increasing attention to oppressive narratives still in place, trauma-informed work in educational settings touches ‘classic’ fields of identification and individualisation. Also the disciplinary developments over time to understand trauma as much more than a causal context are important to be considered. German language support classrooms are a phenomenon to be encountered in Austria and Germany. Their aim, to qualify individual students to live up to specific language standards (Erling et al. 2022), is sometimes framed as measure to support diverse students but goes hand in hand with exclusion from mainstream classroom settings. Considered an exclusive space, voices come up again romanticising those policies that neglected the need for support in schools, claiming that back in time students “tried harder'' and “adjusted quicker” language-wise because they were not moly-coated by pedagogues. Again, the power relations in those narratives are analysed and challenged to explore later developments in language education. Using these two examples, we will elaborate main lines of (historic) developments and touch upon inclusive education’s neocolonial potential (Walton 2018).