University Teachers with Disabilities: school career and professional achievement

Abstract

This study focuses on the school education of
disabled people. We explored the school path of university teachers in order to understand influences on their scholar performance and to identify the distinctive reasons that made of them a minority among thousands of other disabled people who were not able to achieve such levels of formal education and professionalization. The study is mainly based on Bourdieu’s theoretical works. Our methodological procedures were interviews, questionnaires, and analysis of biographical documents. Three teachers participated in the research. This study shows that the family’s appreciation of study and school, the condescension of the school institution, and the distribution of the aimed cultural capital are the indicatives of academic and professional performance of these subjects.