Teachers or supervisors? This is the question that is shaking the world of education after the case of a primary school teacher from Nuoro, suffering from multiple sclerosis and forced to move around with a walker and wheelchair. After having taught all year, she was declared unfit for active supervision (not teaching) by the medical-collegiate commission of the INPS. The result? Removed from the classroom, transferred to the library with an increase in weekly hours – from 24 to 36 – in what appears to be a punitive measure. A decision that not only excludes her from teaching, but, she emphasizes, «violates the right to work, to care and to dignity». The teacher, prepared, loved by the students, is forced to defend herself not from the disease but from a system that, in the face of difficulties, appears more ready to exclude than to include.
The association
Supporting her is AISM (Multiple Sclerosis Association), which has decided to support the teacher. "Her case," says Liliana Meini, "represents a serious limitation to the dignity of the person and the worker. Today (yesterday, ed.) she turned to our association for advice." The teacher has never shirked her job. Despite her illness, she has always taught with dedication. This year too, she has covered substitutes, carried out educational projects, accompanied her students until the end of the year. Yet, on March 5, she was summoned for a medical examination, scheduled for May. A week ago, the cold shower: the commission deemed her unfit "for active supervision." "If I was really unfit, why did they make me teach all year? And why do they now send me to the library, making me work more?"
They just want overseers
The report speaks of "unsuitability for active supervision". But what does "active supervision" actually mean? She disputes it: "In the classroom I guaranteed presence, the educational relationship, the teaching. What was a story of an inclusive school is turning into its opposite. They want supervisors, not teachers". Her wheelchair allows her to move around the classroom. She speaks with clarity and firmness: "I have always fought for inclusion, for children with disabilities, for a school that welcomes everyone. But now I find myself excluded. School is a community, not just control. And if society wants to be inclusive, it must start with those who educate". Today she is forced to defend a right: the right to work. And not for herself. Because in this way, bit by bit, teaching will be off limits for anyone in a wheelchair who cannot "actively supervise".
Fabio Ledda
