The social model of care for persons with disabilities needs to look at the barriers, structures, and any other actions that foster exclusion.

This is one of the concepts underpinning the work of prestigious Cuban academic and researcher Orlando Terré Camacho, president of the World Council of University Academicians and Researchers and the World Association of Special Education, in his book La educación necesaria (2011/2018).

The leader, who is also president of the World Organization for Early Childhood Education, Stimulation, and Development, warns in that text that the problem is not in the body or the individual, but in the context, the impediments, and the relationship we establish with the social environment.

"I am interested, first and foremost, in looking at people and their possibilities. The label is the first social barrier and, in my view, a discriminatory one. The scientific community must always define the system of opportunities prior to using any category."

For the creator and founder of the Neuropoint Method (a procedure that encourages the development of childhood intelligence), if we truly want to classify from the social model of disability, "we should begin by defining the person in a situation and/or condition of disability. Because the problem is not in the body, nor in the subject. It is in the context, in social walls."

Terré, author of some 35 books and numerous articles linked to areas of knowledge, highlights that the prevailing pattern that still complicates interpretation has been the medical, clinical, and rehabilitative model, centered on the deficit rather than the potential.

"That is the outstanding debt regarding the universal principle of rights: there is a need to question the prevailing archetypes that label. Look at potential and abandon the deficit."

Hence, he is categorical in advocating for effective characterization from a very early age. "That is to say, the earlier, the better, which favors the process of development and early intervention."

In a dialogue with CubaSí, he expands on more inclusive and diverse educational processes—particularly those that allow each individual's potential to unfold based on a system of opportunities such as new technologies.

How does the use of technologies and Artificial Intelligence (AI) present itself to the community of persons with disabilities?

"The topic of AI is not new. It was in the summer of 1956 when John McCarthy coined the term. Today, the updated term that offers the most benefit is 'alternative artificial intelligence,' which, far from creating a new problem for education and attention to diversity, allows us to use it according to educational needs.

"In the era of AI, the challenge lies in how to adopt it. I do not believe it can ruin the mission of the teacher and their possibilities, but it highlights the demand for a paradigm shift and new training models.

"When a serious dialogue opens regarding AI and individuals in a condition/situation of disability, it is important to consider the needs of these population groups. Therefore, it is necessary to make them accessible and take into account how to develop them.

"Any technological advancement must contribute to making these tools more human. In such a way that progress can be made toward fulfilling rights and improving the quality of life throughout human existence."

At what stage is the use of these tools in educational processes for persons with disabilities?

"AI is not for everyone. While it is true that it is everywhere, it does not reach all people, nor does it reach everyone equally. The challenge lies in reflecting on its current progress and the advisability of combining technological innovation with ethical and social responsibility.

"There is much inequality in the world. In fact, one of the affected groups is persons with disabilities or special needs, whom AI is not reaching, or for whom we are barely thinking about.

"Not a few international calls advocate for AI to increasingly include people with these characteristics so that it contributes to the inclusive model we require in a unipolar world where social disadvantages of all kinds are generated.

"It is unavoidable to develop inclusive tools linked to AI. At the same time, these must place emphasis on cognitive accessibility, personalized supports, accessible communication, and participation based on collaboration among tech developers and the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities."

How can technology and AI be brought closer to excluded groups or those in situations of disability?

"The first thing is to humanize these tools. AI is designed by people, which is why it should be projected to be closer to human beings rather than placed solely at the service of corporations and economies.

"In the case at hand, regarding persons with some type of disability, we can create a more human, generative AI that is designed and directed toward improving life for everyone."

Do you consider that AI, beyond all its benefits, could put human life at risk?

"What the world needs most is love. We are training generations with great technological skills; however, they also possess deep emotional fragilities, low self-esteem, and low tolerance levels.

"In addition to a permanent dependence on emerging technological codes that affect mental health, research groups warn of dangerous AI risks related to algorithmic discrimination.

"Likewise, they warn about digital generational divides or the loss of ethics in the control and management of political decisions that affect people and humanity.

"Furthermore, an ethical, accessible technological and AI platform with greater participation from persons with disabilities is proclaimed."

And regarding the challenge of education?

"The education of the present and the future is a challenge. We are called upon not only to worry about the curriculum and its contents. We have to think on a large scale about emotions, affective communication, critical thinking, and a sense of reality and generational times.

"Schools must be increasingly united with the family and must increasingly resemble their members and their communities."

Translated by Sergio A. Paneque Díaz / CubaSí Translation Staff