THE INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF SPECIAL EDUCATION IN ITUIUTABA-MG

Abstract

The present research refers to the genesis of special education in Ituiutaba, Minas Gerais, which was consolidated with the creation of the Municipal Institute for Exceptional Children (Instituto Municipal dos Excepcionais – IMEX) in the 1970s. This institution became the educational space for people with disabilities at that time, especially for the deaf, who constituted its first target group. For a long time, deaf individuals did not have their rights to education, inheritance, or citizenship guaranteed. Like other people with disabilities, they bore the marks of a historical trajectory characterized by the denial of rights, being considered “excluded.” Terms such as “invalids,” “alienated,” “incapable,” “defective,” “useless,” and “bearers” were among the stereotypes used since antiquity to refer to people with special needs. “These terms were frequently used until the 1980s” (Sassaki, 2006). Within this scenario of exclusion, the emergence of specialized institutions represented a significant achievement, both at the national and local levels. Nationally, the creation of the Imperial Institute for Blind Boys (1854) and the National Institute for the Education of the Deaf (1856) stand out as landmarks in the organization of special education in Brazil. In Ituiutaba, the foundation of IMEX in 1971, through the initiative of public and civil agents, marked a decisive step in providing education to children who were then referred to as “exceptional.” Initially aimed at serving deaf students, the Institute later expanded its activities to other disabilities, becoming a local reference and contributing to the development of special education in the city. The methodology adopted for this research follows a historical approach, grounded in bibliographic review and documentary research. Academic references (Buffa & Nosella, 2007; Ribeiro, 2011; Santos, 2010, among others) were consulted, along with the analysis of documents such as meeting minutes, internal regulations, student records, municipal legislation, photographs from the period, and oral history, with the aim of recovering and constructing the historical narratives of special education at the local level.