Conference Program

In the international debate on democratic schooling, inclusive education is widely acknowledged as a prerequisite for equity, participation, and the recognition of every student’s potential. However, research consistently shows a persistent gap between inclusive principles and everyday school practices, contributing to socio-educational inequalities in learning outcomes and participation. In this context, cognitive accessibility emerges as a key pedagogical and ethical condition for transforming inclusion into lived democratic experience.

This contribution presents “AACcessibility”, an ongoing action-research project developed in an Italian lower secondary school, which investigates the role of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) in fostering equitable participation and democratic engagement within and beyond school settings. Grounded in the professional practice of a specialised support teacher, the project reflects the importance of teachers’ inclusive competences as a driver of systemic change rather than as an individual or compensatory response to disability.

The main aim of “AACcessibility” is to promote a culture of cognitive accessibility by reframing AAC as a universal pedagogical resource. This approach challenges deficit-based models and aligns with inclusive frameworks that emphasise participation, shared responsibility, and recognition of human dignity. From this perspective, the project highlights how inclusive teaching practices can contribute to equity not only for students with special educational needs but for the entire student population.

A central element of the project is a structured collaboration between the school and a local cultural institution in Rome, Palazzo Merulana, exemplifying cross-sectoral co-design and distributed leadership for inclusion. Three eighth-grade classes were involved in the creation of a symbol-based version of the museum catalogue through a multi-phase process: critical reflection on different dimensions of accessibility; experiential learning within the museum environment; linguistic analysis and simplification of specialised texts; translation into symbols using open-source AAC software; and collective metacognitive discussion on communicative and representational choices. This process foregrounded collaboration among students and teachers and positioned learners as active contributors to inclusive cultural production.

Findings from the project suggest that AAC-based inclusive practices can positively impact equity by enhancing access to content, supporting diverse learning trajectories, and fostering civic competences such as participation, dialogue, and responsibility. Students experienced democratic schooling not only as a formal principle but as a concrete practice, becoming agents of accessibility within their community.

The contribution further addresses an international dimension through a second strand of the project involving the translation and adaptation of “Inclusion Man” from Spanish to Italian, an inclusive comic book developed in Spain. This activity supports cross-cultural dialogue on disability rights, challenges stereotypical representations, and promotes agency and active citizenship, while also strengthening linguistic and interpretative competences.

In conclusion, the paper discusses the conditions, limits, and potential of cognitive accessibility as a pedagogical device for a “lived” democratic school, offering insights into how inclusive practices, teacher professionalism, and school–community partnerships can jointly contribute to more equitable and participatory education systems.