F.02. Beyond Compensatory Inclusion: Disability, Neurodiversity and Spatialized Inequalities in Education

Research has long shown how educational institutions operate as sites in the reproduction of inequalities, defining which subjectivities, forms of knowledge and behaviours are deemed valid. Policies, teaching practices, assessment procedures and pedagogical tools establish what counts as appropriate learning, acceptable behaviour and legitimate participation. Within this framework, disability and neurodivergence emerge as differences to be disciplined, compensated for, or made compatible with pre-established organisational and pedagogical arrangements.

Normalization manifests through classificatory practices, compensatory tools, assessment regimes and pedagogical routines that act upon nonconforming bodyminds, orienting them toward self-regulation, productivity and behavioural conformity. These processes operate not only through policies, practices and evaluation, but also through the material and spatial fabric of educational institutions: dedicated offices, support classrooms and segregated pathways can produce micro-segregations that subtly redefine belonging and legitimacy. These dynamics shape who can participate fully and who risks marginalisation as a learner or student. Space thus emerges as a central actor in the production of difference and in shaping access to educational justice, understood as the real capacity to learn, be represented and take part in the democratic life of educational institutions.

The panel welcomes empirical and theoretical contributions that address related questions (for example: how normalization shapes bodies, behaviours and learning opportunities? which spatial dispositifs produce inclusion or exclusion? and how educational justice can be reimagined beyond deficit logics and compensatory interventions?) and that critically engage with the conceptual and methodological challenges of researching disability, neurodivergence, space and normalization in contemporary educational institutions.