"The role of digital environments in identity construction processes: Exploring disability identity online"

There is general consensus among researchers that the internet and digital environments can offer users tremendous opportunities to experience their identities, as well as a body of research on how children and young people use the internet in this regard. Less present in the literary debate is the specific reference to young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) who, like their peers, find themselves facing complex dynamics typical of online environments (linked to self-representation and experimentation, production, distribution, and use of contents) which can expose them to specific vulnerabilities as well as to specific risks and barriers to their own inclusion. The webinar aims to present an articulated analysis of the online environment and its relationship with identity and/or subjectivity and the multiple factors capable of affecting the possibility of opening spaces for processes of self-determination and online negotiation of one's identity , especially for adolescents with SEND .

The seminar explores the following issues:
- The construction of the Self in digital environments especially for Young people with SEND.
- The conveyance of elements of self-determination through communities and online networks in which younger people with SEND participate.
- The complexity of the visibility-invisibility issue; voice-silence linked to the theme of agency also through digital environments.
- Exposure to specific online risks and vulnerabilities for young people with SEND.
- Tools, practices, and methodologies for the didactic inclusion of students with SEND.

Speakers:
Fabio Bocci - Full Professor, Department of Education, Roma Tre University
Martina De Castro - Research Fellow, Department of Education, Roma Tre University
Umberto Zona - Research Fellow, Department of Education, Roma Tre University
Grazia Mazzocchi - Bologna Territorial Support Center - Regional School Office for Emilia-Romagna