Academic Workers with Special Caregiving Duties: A Perspective from Italian Universities

The contribution deals with the situation of academics who are university employees as well as caregivers of persons with disability. The chapter begins by outlining the International and EU legal regimes applicable to their situation, as regards the equality and non-discrimination principle, and the right of their family members with disability to live independently and have a family life. It also presents the provisions of the Italian legal system to exemplify how national law may strengthen, or counter, international frameworks. The following sections sketch the factual situation of such workers, and explains the risk of discrimination they face, partly due to a number of regulatory and administrative practices particular to academia