“Put yourself in someone else's shoes”. Reflections on awareness and training policies for disability

Abstract

During the month of October 2023, the Chamber of Deputies unanimously approved the “Inclusive Argentina” bill, which aims to train state officials on disability issues. In this context, our goal is to contribute to the public debate with some critical reflections on the matter. To do this, we first detail the legislation related to disability training in Argentina and its main guidelines. Secondly, we conduct a case analysis of the “experiential circuit”, a policy developed by the Undersecretary of Disability, Rehabilitation and Inclusion of the province of Córdoba. The selection of this policy is based on the fact that it represents a commonly used awareness tool: “putting oneself in another's person's shoes”, meaning that people without disabilities simulate having them. Finally we set out to present some reflections by integrating contributions from Critical Disability Studies, some contributions from Feminist and Decolonial Epistemologies and Sociology of the Bodies and Emotions. To achieve this objective, we conducted an analysis of public domain texts using current legislation and official documentation related to the “experiential circuit” as sources.