Event: Public Lecture by Simona D'Alessio entitled 'Reflection on the pandemic from a disability studies perspective'
Date: Tuesday 11 May 2021
Time: 17:00
Venue: Online
Register: Online
The pandemic situation has represented a new and unexpected event, which has severely challenged people’s lives, especially of those people living at the margins of society. Governments around the world have produced different cultural and political responses to the emergency, including putting an emphasis on whose life seem to matter most. In particular, the pandemic seems to have brought to the fore some forms of discrimination. On the other hand, such emergency has also created opportunities to unify people and possibly identify discriminatory attitudes and barriers that otherwise, would have gone unnoticed, thus providing opportunities to generate change. The lecture will address how disability studies perspective makes the case that there is no going back to normality as normality is/was problematic and requires transformation in terms of equity and social justice, especially when it comes to education.
The guest lecturer
Simona D’Alessio is a scholar in the area of inclusive education and disability studies, with a focus on equity in education. Since September 2019 she has been appointed as a school principal for a comprehensive state school (Preschool 1 to Grade 8) in Rome. She has carried out research in the area of inclusive education, disability studies in education (DSE) and policy analysis for many international organisations and universities to support the development of inclusive policies and practice in education, in particular in Australia, UK, Italy, France and the UAE. A former qualified teacher of English language and a specialist teacher for students with disabilities in mainstream classrooms, she is involved in international networks to support the development of inclusive teaching and learning. She is a member of the Italian Group of Research on Inclusion and Disability Studies and currently looking at issues around inclusive leadership and the consequences of pandemic on inclusion.