Rede Coletivo TEA+, Cartographies of Recognition, School Inclusion, and Social Justice in the Education of Autistic Students: Toward a Pedagogy of Neurodiversity.
School inclusion; Autism Spectrum Disorder; Recognition; Action research; Social justice.
This qualitative research is structured as an ethical, political, and educational manifesto for the school inclusion of autistic students, taking place in the public school system of Duque de Caxias, RJ, Brazil. Grounded in the lived experiences of the researcher as an autistic woman, teacher, and public policy manager, the study proposes a cartography of recognition as a transformative praxis in educational territories. Using action research with an ethnographic base and multireferential writing as methodology, the investigation focuses on the Rede Coletivo TEA+, conceived as a situated political-pedagogical practice. The Network is understood as field, method, object, and inspiration, articulating intersectoral actions with local knowledge through pedagogical and formative advisory, family engagement, and social mobilization in response to the vulnerabilities of autistic students’ inclusion. The thesis is based on the Theory of Recognition (Honneth, Fraser, and Butler) and adopts love as a collective ethical axis, inspired by bell hooks. Data production involves participant observation, interviews, letters written by mobilizing mothers, and teaching cases. The research is ongoing, with a final deliverable in the form of a manifesto-book as a public and social return.