The text covers social, economic, cultural and political aspects related to social inclusion of visually impaired people in Porto Alegre. Firstly, it presents the main legislation formulated in the 1990's in Brazil to widen the perspectives for inclusion of visually impaired people into Brazilian society. In the cultural aspect, in approaches prejudice and terminologies used to refer to visually impaired people (cego, deficiente visual, portador de deficiência visual, "invidente" - Portuguese for blind, visually impaired, visual impairment bearer, "non-seeing", respectively) and the stigmas linked to them. As for social and economic aspects, it includes education and professional training as well as access to the job market. In the political aspect, it approaches the rights to vote and to be elected and the enforcement of visually impaired people's rights and the pressures exerted by their associations in the struggle against prejudice and discrimination.
visually impaired people; inclusion; citizenship