Inclusive educommunication and disability in Andean Region: qualitative review of advances and achievements

Abstract

Introduction. Education for social inclusion of people with disabilities in recent decades increased the use of educommunication to create strategies for change in the conditions of marginalization experienced by this population. The research aimed at tracking inclusive communication and/or educommunication processes of people with disabilities in the Andean Region, in order to identify in them the understanding of communication for change and educommunication in terms of the inclusion of this population. Method. A case study was made of 36 communication and educommunication inclusive experiences of and for people with disabilities in the six countries of the Andean Region documented online. Results. It was found that the Andean countries (Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Perú and Venezuela) have public and private communication or educommunication strategies framed in the social model and the rights approach to transform stigmas and facilitate the social inclusion of people with disabilities. Discussion. These strategies are now in transition: from diffusionist and institutionalized models to models with transformative processes and structural change with holistic views of disability that involve interactive processes and collective construction. Educommunication in the Andean Region has advanced and achieved achievements as an education strategy for the inclusion of people with disabilities, the recognition and self-recognition of their voice and the facilitation of social transformation processes towards more inclusive societies capable of recognizing their diversity. However, it is necessary to continue to develop strategies of this kind in order to achieve this purpose once and for all.