Original scientific paper

Literary contributions to inclusion

Davor Piskač ; Sveučilište u Zagrebu, Hrvatski studiji, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Vjekoslava Jurdana ; Sveučilište Jurja Dobrile u Puli, Odsjek za odgojne i obrazovne znanosti, Pula, Hrvatska

Abstract

Literature as an art of words interprets the issues of life of people with disabilities. In this paper models of inclusion are observed on the example of the novel The Forgotten Son by Miro Gavran. The theme - motif and ideological levels and the formal and aesthetic levels of the novel are analyzed. The objective of these analyses is to explore, observe and describe on actual examples how literature presents a figure of a person with intellectual disabilities. The analyses have shown that literature observes the quality of life of such people (their family and social context, ways of expressing opinions, feelings and thoughts, issues of sexuality and growing up) to develop structured and aesthetic functions, and construct (or deconstruct) the sterotyped relationships of the society towards people with disabilities. When contextualizing educational and rehabilitation sciences, it is revealed that it is literature that unfolds very interesting questions by structuring aesthetic and social functions. Literature thus often (but not always) promotes changes in attitudes and opinions of the community. In the context of functionalization, models of operationalization of the principles of integration / inclusion, normalization and individualization are presented through elaboration of the motifs of fear and uncertainty of the community of something new; observation of different resistances to changes; promotion of complex issues related to the system of control; articulation of the possibilities of institutionalization and the consequences of deinstitutionalization.
In this sense, literature confirms that there is no such thing as an easy overcoming of the difficulties, but there is a possibility of
directly facing them. The biggest advantage obtained from the study of the motif of disability in literature is that suitable theoretical
models for analysis and interpretation are created. The work on literary models can almost perfectly develop aspects of inclusion,
and encourage its development, and this is one of the most important things that society can do for people with disabilities.

Keywords

literature; people with disabilities; individualization; inclusion

Hrčak ID:

110040

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/110040

Publication date:

4.11.2013.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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