Legal and educational potentiality of disability. The evolution of integrated sport

LEGAL and EDUCATIONAL POTENTIALITY of DISABILITY – The Evolution of Integrated Sport. “Special Medical Pedagogy: Didactics, Sport and Disability”. Editorial Series directed by Prof. Domenico Tafuri. Introduction: In recent years in Italy, the increasing knowledge and information with respect to the world of handicap, has produced an increase of strategies and projects aimed at the integration and support of the disabled. This paper, therefore, started from the necessary reconstruction of the National and International regulatory measures with which it has gone from a welfare approach to a rehabilitation system aimed at full integration of the disabled within the society. The practice of physical activities for people with disabilities is a means of individual development, rehabilitation and social integration. The physical and motor activity creates the opportunity to relate to the outside world by integrating the discoveries of new possibilities. The sport allows to stimulate the individual and the group in putting into play and strengthen their resources; by definition it possesses a strong educational role, helping to optimize the different qualities, different motives and the different way in which people can meet and know each other. Noteworthy is the practice of adapted physical activities (APA) that modify the traditional sport parameters based on the potential that the individual is able to express, cultivating their skills, creating integration. Through adapted physical activity a person is able to redefine and exploit their own characteristics omitting the concept of limit and impossible. It acts on individual skills, fostering development of innate abilities, acquisition and development of self-esteem. So sport helps to enhance the way a person perceives themselves enriching the awareness of one’s body; redefining their resources and quality. The Special Olympics are adapted physical activity that involves both non-disabled subjects and people with intellectual and relational disabilities. This is a way of doing sport that promotes personal growth, autonomy and full integration of two worlds that sometimes do not seem to meet. The Special Olympics extend the benefits of sport to as many people as possible, in their diversity, making inclusion their main motto. This work has therefore focused on giving general information on the world of adapted sport in all its forms: evolution, innovation, inclusion.