Avviare a una professione il minore sordo: un primo bilancio sull’esperienza del Pio Istituto di Milano tra Otto e Novecento

[Autom. eng. transl.] The professional training of children and young people with disabilities, whether intellectual, physical or sensorial, was a custom of educational-welfare institutions operating in Italy between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In this sense, the training offer was aligned with that of other residential realities intended for minors in fragile conditions, such as orphanages, orphanages and correctional facilities. Distinct according to whether they were intended for males or females, the work activities took on values ​​that also changed based on the objectives entrusted to them by the managers of the organisation. If in the most enlightened experiences these activities were conceived as tools aimed at facilitating the achievement of personal dignity in the individual with disabilities, there was no shortage of cases in which starting up the profession was intended as a mere channel for an economic income for the Institute. This work intends to shed light on the work of the Pio Istituto deaf-mute poor in Milan between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. Founded in 1854 to welcome and educate the deaf indigents of the area free of charge, from its beginnings the Institute offered its students an articulated and complete educational path, where alongside intellectual education there was ample space for specific professional training. The girls were actually trained in classic women's work, primarily sewing and embroidery, aimed not so much at preparing them for work in tailoring, but rather at making them good wives and mothers, capable of managing their own home and family despite the disability. Males, however, learned the trades of shoemaker, weaver, tailor and farmer. This preparation would have allowed them, once the study period was finished, to obtain their own economic independence and, therefore, not to be considered a burden on their family and society. The aim of the research is to investigate in depth the objectives underlying the work training provided by the Milanese Institute, with particular reference to that organized for deaf males. At the same time, we intend to verify whether in this context the attention to the integration of the minor into society, a central theme of the institution's educational policy, was effectively reflected. The work will make use of, in addition to the historical-educational studies already published on the history of the deaf and of the Institute of Milan, also the rich documentation preserved in the Archives of the Foundation of the Pio Istituto dei Sordi of Milan, as well as the magazine Giulio Tarra, periodical of the structure published since 1891.