Education serves as a vital pathway for personal and societal advancement. However, in this unequal world, poverty and disability create overlapping barriers to education.
Addressing this problem, Adriana Lia Friszman, Associate Professor at Faculty of Medical Sciences, State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), embarked on the topic of health and education policies for people with disabilities while she worked as a researcher at Fudan Development Institute (FDDI) Visiting Scholar Program.
Adriana has conducted many researches regarding sociology of education, public policies, accessibility, health and education policies for people with disabilities, diversity and inclusion.
Let’s hear what Prof. Friszman has to say about her research and personal experience at FDDI and Fudan.
Q: What motivated you to study health and education policies for people with disabilities?
A: Education is one of the main means to promote self and social development. Living in a rather unequal country and working at a public university put me in contact with a harsh social reality: people from low-income background, coincidentally had a family member with disability. This overlapping of conditions caused great suffering and many times condemned entire families and generations to poverty, unemployment, and poor quality of life. So, it soon became clear that policies should be formulated to provide equal access to education, granting any necessary support regarding health and economic disadvantages.
Q: Regarding public policies on inclusion of people with disabilities, what common challenges do China and Brazil face? How does the situation in China differ from that in Brazil?
A: Both countries are signatories to the International Convention for the Rights of People with Disabilities and both comply with this and other international consensuses. Both countries have national, state/province and city laws and regulations regarding accessibility, health, work and education of people with disabilities. The common challenges faced by our countries involve the implementation of policies through actions capable of guaranteeing equal access and social participation. Financing and investment are crucial to reducing barriers.
In Brazil, inclusive education has been implemented in mainstream formal education, from nursery school on. Despite the higher educational system being selective and extremely competitive, universities had implemented quota systems and services to guarantee accessibility. I have learned that the educational system in China is also very competitive and that students with disabilities are mainly educated in special schools.
Q: How do you integrate your knowledge in education and medical science to study health and educational public policies and practices related to people with disabilities?
A: The integration of knowledge is part of the very concept of research. I start from the assumption that in order to formulate inclusive policies it is necessary to understand the living conditions of people and their families, the health and educational problems they face, the resources that exist to meet their needs and the effectiveness of the support that enables their development and full participation. This approach underlines the necessity of integrating multiple dimensions (social, economic, health, and educational) into the research process. It allows policymakers to consider the real, lived experiences of individuals and communities, ensuring that interventions are tailored to meet actual needs rather than assumptions or generalized data.
Q: What advice would you give to university students who are interested in pursuing interdisciplinary research?
A: Interdisciplinarity is the present and future of research. This kind of research suits students who are curious and open to different fields of knowledge, and that are able to foresee that complex problems may require the use of multiple research methods.
Q: You put great emphasis on the role of universities in shaping public policies. Could you elaborate more? Why universities play such a significant role in policy formulation, implementation and assessment?
A: Universities create and systematize knowledge, and profound knowledge and expertise in several fields, usually present in university settings, are required for the formulation of policies. Following and experiencing implementation produces new knowledge to feed the assessment process and consequent improvement of policies.
Q: After spending some time working on your research at FDDI, how has your experience been so far? Is there anything that particularly impresses you?
A: The experience has been awesome! FDDI offers excellent conditions for research and meaningful opportunities of interaction and collaboration with other researchers in different fields. The support team is skillful and provides help in all issues.
Writer: WANG Kaiyu
Proofreader: WANG Jingyang
Editor: WANG Mengqi, LI Yijie
