The Problem of Integrating People with Intellectual Developmental Needs into Society: A Socio-Philosophical Analysis

Nowadays, special attention is paid to the problem of integrating people with disabilities into society due to the fact that the Russian Federation has ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and adopted associated regulations. The article examines the socio-philosophical approaches to the problem of disability and identifies the most productive grounds for the integration of people with intellectual developmental needs. Despite the active creation of conditions for inclusion of people with disabilities, in practice there is a frequent unsuitability of these innovations, as well as the lack of successful mechanisms for integrating people with intellectual limitations. This situation is connected with the theoretical approaches underlying the consideration of the problem, such as positivism, the ideas of which are relevant to the medical model of disability. A person with a disability is considered as a patient, an inferior, who must either be cured or excluded from society, which leads to discrimination. However, social models which shift the focus of the problem from the disabled person to society are also criticized for creating an opposite, positive discrimination of the disabled, which generates public dissatisfaction. The article makes a conclusion that the most acceptable is the concept of human diversity, which assumes the normal coexistence of all categories of people, regardless of their characteristics. In turn, the development of inclusion mechanisms uses the theory of social exclusion, with the help of which exclusion indicators are identified. The highlighted indicators are the result of theoretical analysis and sociological research through interviews with specialists from boarding houses for mentally retarded children conducted in 2016-2018 in Siberia. As a result of the study, the following indicators were identified: exclusion from family upbringing; monotony of social environment; territorial remoteness; exclusion from educational, social and cultural life; predetermined life path. Indicators allow noting not only the existing limitations of integration, but also marking its most effective mechanisms. In conclusion, it is stated that the analysis of socio-philosophical foundations allows determining the most productive theories that underlie technologies. In the future, the model of human diversity and the theory of social exclusion could become fundamental in relation to the integration of people with cognitive disabilities.

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