Conference Program

In recent decades, intersectionality has emerged as a key theoretical perspective for understanding the marginalization and vulnerability experienced by women with disabilities (Emmett & Alant, 2006; Naples, 2018). Positioned at the intersection of multiple identity factors, such as gender, disability, social class, age, and ethnicity, they are often exposed to socio-cultural stereotypes that generate multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination across different contexts, including the labour market (EDF, 2022; Chan & Hutchings, 2023). The contribution aims to present the results of a qualitative narrative study grounded in Feminist Disability Studies (Garland-Thomson, 2005) and, more specifically, in an intersectional approach (Crenshaw, 1989). The study reflects on the potential and methodological challenges of intersectional research in school contexts (Davis, Brunn-Bevel, & Olive, 2015), focusing on the labour inclusion of teachers with disabilities, who remain underrepresented in both international and national literature (Neca, Borges, & Campos Pinto, 2022; Bellacicco, Ianes & Macchia, 2022). Moreover, policies and discourses on inclusive education often focus primarily on students, overlooking an ecological vision of the school (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) and neglecting professional actors such as teachers with disabilities, who often remain relatively invisible and insufficiently protected from a rights-based perspective (Lincoln, 2021). The study is based on an intersectional methodology (De Vita & Romano, 2025) and involved several teachers with disabilities working across different levels of schooling and with diverse personal and cultural backgrounds. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews exploring professional experiences, forms of discrimination in school contexts, and emancipatory pathways. This methodological approach supported a reflexive and situated perspective while promoting participants’ active involvement as co-researchers in the co-construction of knowledge. The thematic analysis of the interviews (Braun & Clarke, 2006) revealed barriers to multidimensional accessibility and exclusionary relational dynamics linked to sexist and ableist stereotypes. At the same time, participants described strategies of advocacy, resilience, and empowerment to challenge discriminatory conditions. The use of narrative and teachers’ testimonies thus allows their life stories to be valued as key sources for understanding the meanings attributed to their professional trajectories and emancipatory pathways (Taddei, 2020; Del Bianco, 2022). These findings highlight the need to rethink inclusion as a complex issue of social justice (Ayers, Quinn & Stovall, 2009) and to adopt a broader perspective that considers discrimination affecting all members of the school community. In this regard, the presence and engagement of women teachers with disabilities may act as levers for change, promoting the rights of those facing multiple forms of discrimination and fostering more equitable and inclusive transformations of policies and services. Ultimately, this may contribute to improving the quality of life of women with disabilities (Ferrara, 2014).