Children and Context-aware Inclusive Tuning of Cartoons. Design of multimedia contents in an inclusive perspective
From Firenze University Press Journal: Media Education
Cosimo Di Bari, Università degli studi di Firenze
Sara Jayousi, Università degli studi di Firenze
Paolo Lucattini, University of Rome “Foro Italico”
Lorenzo Mucchi, Università degli studi di Firenze
The historical-cultural path that connects the Gene-va Declaration of the Rights of the Child (1924, 1959), the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), contributes to highlighting how, over the last hundred years, the dimension of care towards the developmental age has been articulated.From recognizing that children have the rights to be breastfed, fed, protected, not exploited, international charters and pragmatic policies have been oriented with increasing intensity towards the right to rest, the right to dedicate oneself to free time and recreational activities (age-appropriate), the right to participate freely and fully in cultural and artistic life (Committee on the rights of the child [CRC], 2013).In appreciating and supporting what has been affirmed and systematised, we must nevertheless think about the profound criticalities and differences highlighted every year during cultural and media events that celebrate World Children’s Day (20 November), also in connection with the current pandemic period (Perasso et al., 2021).
The following elements contribute to the nourishment and favoring of criticalities and differences: (i) the geographical coordinates and the peculiarities of the territorial realities, both on an international scale (cultures and religions, countries in situations of peace or war, etc.) and locally (small towns, remote locations, metropolitan cities, suburbs, etc.); (ii) the gender as well as the composition, and the economic and social resources of the family unit; (iii) the school systems and more generally learning systems (formal, non-formal and informal) accessible in that specific region of the world (Fondazione ISMU, 2021). Ultimately, the criticalities and differences appear to be interdependent on that global condition of physical, material, emotional and social well-being, which is included in the concept of the person’s “Quality of Life” (Felce & Perry, 1995).Our contribution focuses on the conception, design and implementation of animation and entertainment activities in an inclusive perspective. We encounter some significant elements in the works and results published by LUDI — Play for Children with Disabilities, an international and interdisciplinary network of researchers and professionals, funded by the European Pro-gram COST (Cooperation in Science and Technology), launched in June 2014 and concluded in 2018.
LUDI has pursued the main objective of spreading awareness of the importance to offer the opportunity to play to children with disabilities. The works and the results produced by the network have revealed that play does not yet have a sufficiently central role in the daily practices of the educational and rehabilitation services that gravi-tate around children with disabilities. These contexts tend to pursue clinical objectives while opportunities, time and spaces dedicated to exploration, play and discovery activities, typical of childhood, are significantly reduced (Bianquin, 2017). Within these frameworks, play seems to be considered only a means to achieve objectives and performances (playful activities), far from playing for the pleasure of playing (recreational activities), from playing as an end in itself (Besio et al., 2017). Alongside this international path, in Italy, in May 2019, the Guarantor Authority for Childhood and Adolescence together with the Istituto degli Innocenti, carried out a study3 that, in keeping together qualitative and quantitative methodologies, highlighted the lack of data on how children with disabilities manage their free time. All the people involved — young school students, municipal authorities, family members as well as scientific societies — in supporting the importance of play and sport in the life of children, including children with disabilities, underlined the lack of reference regulations and dedicated political and social planning, and affirmed the need to open adequate spaces for inclusion while prioritizing specific training on the subject.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/me-12650
Read Full Text: https://oaj.fupress.net/index.php/med/article/view/12650
