Abstract:

This contribution presents the research design of the project “Autonomy and the disabled adult. A factor of personal development and a resource to a growing society” financed by the University of Bologna’s AlmaIdea Junior Program.

This research program engages in the national debate on social policies aimed at adult disabled individuals. Social policies are called upon to supply goods and services, which improve and guarantee abilities to participate in the making of collective and individual decisions, and not merely to compensate for disadvantages. In this respect, the concept of capabilities should be taken into account, looked upon as being connected to individual freedoms and fundamental rights, referred to all the dimensions of human life. The impossibility to make personal life choices regarding their health, work or free time may be considered as a capability deprivation, a failure to start an empowerment process (Sen, 2004; Nussbaum, 2002).

The acquisition of capabilities, which contribute to the development of paths of autonomy, to the assimilation of the individual into society, to personal growth from the perspective of being an active citizen, should mean not only a promotion of the individual but also a source of social wealth. The Italian context, set also in a wider international context, remains at the forefront but runs the risk of suffering a setback, due to the current economic situation.

Project aim and research questions
In Italy, this is the first study up to date that addresses these topics, yet, we witness continual interventions in this area at both political and economic level. There is an increasing sense of urgency in the need to validate and support these decisional choices with data, which could justify unclear and heterogenous interventions on the national territory. The main aim of this research can be stated as follows: to examine which aspects of adult disabled individuals’ capacity to act, autonomy and self-determination are mainly developed in different kinds of life situations (for instance: a disabled individual who lives at home with their parents, in group-apartments, attends day-care centres, or works etc.).

The research questions can be summarized as follows
Pedagogic field: Which capabilities are considered necessary for an individual to live as independently as possible?
Legal field: Which individual powers connected to the ability to act improve when a disabled person lives autonomously?
Economic field: Which economic aspects, costs and investments are involved in the promotion of disabled people’s autonomous lives?

Methodology:
- initial exploratory analyzes in each research field
- ethnographic part: observation of reference groups of disabled adults
- data collection through questionnaires
- dissemination.

The reference groups of disabled adults will be identified as follows, thanks also to the relationship established with the service industry and the social cooperatives:
- Disabled adults living independently
- Disabled adults who have a paid job
- Disabled adults attending day centers
- Disabled adults living at home.

Expected results:
This paper presents the first results will collected through quantitative and qualitative tools given to reference groups. The results will allow us to gather elements for designing new social inclusive strategies more sustainable from an economic point of view, usable in our citis with the operators, educators, entrepreneurs and parents involved.

Keywords:

Autonomy, disabled adult, personal development, pedagogy.