Multiple meanings of the inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities in the aging process: family narratives

Abstract

People with intellectual disabilities are living longer and, in some cases, aging with their parents. The study aimed to analyze how these people's trajectories of social insertion, narrated by their parents, contribute to the defense of inclusion processes in their multiple senses. Empirical materialities were generated through narrative interviews with mothers and a father of individuals with intellectual disabilities over 53 years of age, and the analysis was inspired by Foucault's discourse analysis. The study points out that each historical moment articulates different notions of truth to the ways in which people with intellectual disabilities were treated, from exclusion from school, work, affective life and, more recently, the movement for inclusion. The fragility of most of the parents interviewed, in terms of health, protection and security, points to the importance of public policies to support this population, so that these subjects can live and age with greater dignity.