Abstract:

The paper provides insight into the issue relating to the position of a person – child with a disability in the education system. The education system has been inherently undergoing incessant changes reflecting the current possibilities and needs of society. One of those widely discussed changes is the process of inclusive education, which is now generally understood as an immanent part of the education paradigm. We live in a time when the rights, development and care impacting children are highly emphasised. The subject area that our team has been focusing on concerns the so-called power and analogically helplessness in the area of inclusive education. It is a very complex area with a unifying topic that is difficult to grasp. Systems belonging to various scientific disciplines have their influence here as well; the core of the issue is constituted by those which are connected to social, legal and psychological aspects of communication of an individual with disabilities.

The paper is intended to present the results of an overview study of available empirical studies, the issue of the power and helplessness in inclusive education, which is part of the research topic of the role of relationships in special education – the child with disabilities. Relevant studies published from 2015 to 2021 in English and Czech were identified. Key words included: parent, caregiver, mother, father, need, support, adolescent, youth, disability, chronic illness, communication, conversation, relationship with social service provider, dependence on care. Information was searched in the EBSCO, PROQUEST, SAGE, WEB OF SCIENCE scientific databases and freely accessible GOOGLE SCHOLAR database. Forty-one studies focusing on the issue of education were identified, out of which studies meeting specified criteria were selected.

The crucial findings indicate the subject area of “power and helplessness” is a topic covering partial topics, which include especially effective communication and positive relations between an educational institution and a child with disabilities or suffering from chronic illness, and their parent or legal guardian.

Keywords:

Parent, caregiver, mother, father, need, support, adolescent, youth, disability, chronic illness, communication, conversation, deendence on care.