Conference Program

In educational and social services addressing people with disabilities, the concept of a life project has progressively assumed a central role in supporting developmental pathways, transitions to adulthood, and the construction of forms of social participation. However, when individuals enter the stage of old age, this planning dimension often tends to weaken. In many care contexts, advancing age coincides with a gradual reduction in spaces for self-determination and with the strengthening of predominantly assistance-oriented intervention models, in which decisions related to everyday life are increasingly mediated by service organizations (Genga & Lattanzio, 2015).

This transformation raises significant questions for contemporary special education. People who have lived with disability since childhood or early adulthood are now experiencing increasingly longer life trajectories, bringing to light new educational, relational, and social needs.

In this scenario, there is a risk that advancing age may be interpreted primarily as a phase of progressive dependency, in which the life-planning dimension gradually loses meaning (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, 2021).

This contribution proposes a pedagogical reinterpretation of the concept of life planning in later life, questioning interpretations that confine it mainly to the early stages of existence or to transition phases related to disability. Through a theoretical-critical reflection that intertwines Disability Studies and special education, the paper interprets the life project as a dynamic and continuous process that accompanies the individual throughout the entire life course. From this perspective, attention shifts from the mere planning of services to the enhancement of life stories, meaningful relationships, and lifelong learning opportunities that sustain identity continuity and social participation (Regional Council, 2021).

This perspective is also in dialogue with the Capability Approach (Sen, 2000; Nussbaum, 2012), which interprets well-being as the real opportunity to choose and pursue meaningful forms of life, and with the bio-psycho-social model of disability promoted by the ICF (WHO, 2001), which highlights the role of social and cultural contexts in supporting or limiting opportunities for participation.

Within this framework, the contribution highlights the educational value of the caring relationship (Mortari, 2006), understood not merely as an assistance-based response to need, but as a relationship capable of recognizing the person in the entirety of their biographical experience and in their possibility to continue orienting their own existence (Hesse, 2002). From this perspective, rethinking life planning in aging with disability means acknowledging existential projectuality as a constitutive dimension of human dignity, even in conditions of greater fragility.

Special education can therefore offer a significant contribution in promoting educational and social practices capable of supporting quality of life, participation, and democratic citizenship throughout the entire life course, counteracting the reduction of aging with disability to a merely assistance-based issue (Applewhite, 2017).