Educação e estigma: uma análise sociológica do processo de inclusão escolar de estudantes com deficiência intelectual em uma escola da rede pública de ensino em São Luís do Maranhão.

Abstract

This master’s dissertation investigates the process of school inclusion of students with intellectual disabilities in the public education system of São Luís, Maranhão, highlighting the tensions between inclusive discourses and everyday practices often marked by stigmas and social representations. The main objective of the study is to critically analyze how the inclusion of students with intellectual disabilities is configured in public schools in the capital city, emphasizing interactional aspects and learning processes that frequently remain invisible in the school context. The research is grounded in the sociology of deviance and the sociology of education, understanding intellectual disability not only as a clinical diagnosis but also as a social construction shaped by discourses of pathologization and medicalization. The theoretical framework articulates contributions from Canguilhem, who questions the boundaries between normality and pathology; Foucault, who examines medicalization as a mechanism of exclusion; Bourdieu, who highlights the naturalization of social inequalities within the school environment; and Goffman, who addresses processes of stigmatization. Methodologically, the study adopts a qualitative approach, with emphasis on document analysis and interviews conducted with administrators, educators, family members, and students, whose accounts reveal the presence of stigmas in everyday school life. The field study carried out at Escola Nova Acolher reveals important contradictions: while the resource room is perceived as a space of support and inclusion, the regular classroom still maintains symbolic barriers that hinder the effective inclusion of students. The results indicate that mere enrollment does not ensure genuine inclusion. Rather, it is necessary to transform institutional practices, invest in continuing teacher education, strengthen family involvement, and recognize students’ individuality in the teaching and learning process.