Políticas públicas brasileiras para o autismo: entre a patologização da diferença e a correção comportamental

Abstract

The main objective of this dissertation is to analyze how Brazilian public policies act in the normalization of subjects with autism. Based on Foucault 's theory and its concepts of practice and normalization, investigate how the normalizing practices which constitute brazilian educational public policies produce and position autism. Therefore, the analytical corpus is composed by thirty two official documents, including laws, decrees, resolutions, official notes and extra material including booklets and collections published by distinguished departments, for instance The Presidency of Republic, The Education Ministry, The Health Ministry, published among 1994 and 2020. The analysis of the material enables the comprehension of the ways in which the Health area, by naming and positioning autism in different and inconstant ways, has misled the condition in several fields of knowledge, among them, the Education field. When investigating how the specific public policies were created for this group, it was perceptible how the Parents of Autistic Association‟s forged partnership with the State to assure the basic rights of the subjects and with that, acted in the elaboration, effectiveness and fiscalization of the public policies in a continuous cycle, persisting until nowadays. During the investigative process, it was possible to analyze how the Health area reacts to Educational practices for people with autism and the Educacional area, once submitted to this knowledge, classifies autism through the medical concept of disability, pathologized the subject and gives emphasis to normalizing practices related to communication and social interaction and, specially, the behavioral correction for students who present it, inducing the schooling process to be focused on training skills defined by the Health area. Consequently, educational practices oriented at these subjects became a therapeutic pedagogy and school is considered the clinic extension. In conclusion, autistic students are considered, in educational policies, as trainable but not educable students.