Inclusion in Italy: From numbers to ideas that is from special visions to the promotion of inclusion for all persons

Our considerations, in reply to Giangreco, Doyle and Suter’s (2012) paper, are grouped into different sections: reflections related to the history of inclusion in Italy that have led to disassociate the ‘special’ visions, and accept the necessity to adopt, together with quantitative analyses, qualitative and contextual approaches that also take into account socio-economic contexts; the importance of those individuals who mediate in school contexts (i.e. teachers, parents and children) their attitudes and beliefs, referring to recent theoretical models (e.g. Life Design) that emphasize narrative and life stories; the need of using indices for assessing inclusion experiences that take into account their complexity; the importance of sustaining future practitioners, and their efforts toward school inclusion to avoid that excessive attention to special educational needs that can become a “threat”. In the conclusions, we will summarize some of our reactions, hoping they also will be able to contribute to maintain the inclusion issue at the center of our attention.