The Disability Models in the Perspective of Parents, Teachers, and Special Needs Educators: A Qualitative Data Analysis

Representations of disability shaping the opinions, attitudes, and behaviour of 90 participants (teachers, parents, and special needs educators) are investigated in order to better evaluate the spread of the biopsychosocial model proposed by the ICF. The quasi-experimental purpose was investigated through both qualitative analyses and by quantitative analyses. The results demonstrate a richness of perspectives on disability much broader than the medical, social, and biopsychosocial ones. The limited diffusion of the biopsychosocial model among parents shows the lack of an ‘open view’ towards personal empowerment, social growth, and improvement of the quality of life. This suggests a priority: The need to further involve parents in the educational actions, in order to promote an effective management of personal and environmental resources to better face the disability of their own children. In such a way it would be possible to develop and promote a new ‘culture of diversities’.