Abstract:

Educating individuals with cognitive disabilities has emerged as a “new” arena for development work. A critical reflection on teaching works of persons with cognitive disabilities is necessary at this point since there is a growing interest on disability and disability-inclusive development. The study seeks to examine how cognitive disability is understood by support institutions, mainly by Government Units (GUs), and how such understanding shaped why and how they engage in educating persons with disabilities. The study puts forward the concept of education through sports program to examine the experiences in educating persons with disabilities from the perspective of strengthening people’s capacities to live together.

Three data gathering methods were used:
1) Being there and being part of (integration and observation),
2) Conversations and dialogue (interviews, focus group discussions), and
3) Leafing through, reflecting on (review of existing documents).

The study focused on the experiences of the Persons with Cognitive Disabilities in Italy, Bulgaria and Ireland. The study showed that developing deeper cognitive disability awareness comes hand in hand with enhancing skills and capacities for collective action. In the process, everyone can become part of building better communities.

Keywords:

Persons with cognitive disabilities (PWCDs), enhancing skills and capacities, support institutions.