After us: new alliances bettween special education and economics for news spaces of Quality of life

Abstract

This paper explores the existential and economic dimensions of the “After Us”. The authors, in particular, delve into the challenges that a family, in which the economically relevant members are of old age, faces: on the one hand, concerns about the future of an adult child with disabilities, on the other, a Modern welfare state that introduces a paradigm shift in the production and/or financing of social assistance for people with disabilities. If, in economic terms, the “After Us” represents a solution to the failure or insufficiencies of the market, in pedagogical terms, it is possible to create this perspective in the “During Us”, through new actions aimed at the life project of the person with disabilities. Retracing the epistemological assets of special pedagogy and economics, the article discusses various paths in order to recreate a new generative and transformative link capable of responding to the After Us with targeted actions for the design of Quality of Life spaces for caregivers and for adults with disabilities.