ABI(LI)TARE: ricerca sugli spazi ibridi tra abilitare e cura per l’autismo

A design process that could be defined “enabling”, moves beyond the idea of acces- sibility to the concept of inclusivity. Enabling environments support autonomy and promote relations and integration in the social community. People with Autism Spectrum Disorders present a particular sensitivity to the envi- ronment, in terms of ipo- or iper- reactivity to sensory stimulations (APA, 2013) and different perception of the context (Kinnaer et al., 2016). To make people with ASD “able”, it is necessary to reduce the diseases caused by the environment (external negative factors) and improve their internal positive factors (Bogdashina, 2003). Most of the researches on this topic were developed in USA end UK and define line guides and best practice in the field of living environments (Ahrentzen e Steele, 2009; Brand, 2010), but they mostly regard assisted living. In Italy, there are some examples of enabling communities, that deliver from the spon- taneous relation between users and local people in new living solutions that are very interesting, but rarely present architectural quality. It is becoming a real emergency to attribute architectural values to enabling spaces: design quality shouldn’t be referred just to functionality and respect of regulations. Moreover, regulations are related to residential care institutions, that represent “special spaces” for people with disability and are far from the idea of inclusivity. As a result, advanced research should change aim: from “spaces for special needs” to “special spaces for all”, founded on hybridisation. Starting from the existent experiences we propose a new model of temporary living for people with ASD in development age with a new living system that would be spread in the urban context and associated to working and social life.