Access of persons with mental disabilities to the rights and guarantees provided for in the Brazilian Inclusion Law through the Unified Social Assistance System

Abstract

Since 2005, the decentralized and participatory Unified Social Assistance System (USAS) is foreseen in the Constitution, whose function is the management of Social Assistance in the field of Brazilian social protection. In 2015, the Brazilian Law on the Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities was enacted to ensure and promote the exercise of fundamental rights and freedoms by persons with disabilities, with a view to their social inclusion and citizenship, in compliance with the International Convention on Human Rights of People with Disabilities. Like health and welfare, social assistance is a social right of the citizen and a duty of the state; its actions are part of the non-contributory Social Security Policy. Therefore, we sought to investigate how the access and receipt of information, by people with mental disabilities, to the rights and guarantees provided by USAS, in Campo Grande, neighborhood of the west of Rio de Janeiro, through documentary and field research, with semi-structured individual interview. There was a lack of knowledge, adequate information, continuing education of professionals, physical structure. It is concluded that, despite advanced, protective human rights norms, the State has not yet effectively reduced social inequalities, especially for people with mental disabilities.