ABSTRACT
Since 2005, the decentralized and participatory Unified Social Assistance System (Usas) is provided for 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 social security, 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 the access and reception of information, by people with mental disabilities, to the rights and guarantees provided by Usas, in Campo Grande, neighborhood of the West side of Rio de Janeiro, through documentary and field research, with semi-structured individual interview. There was a lack of knowledge, of adequate information, of continuing education of professionals, of physical structure. It is concluded that, however advanced the protective human rights norms, the State has not yet effectively reduced social inequalities, especially for people with mental disabilities.
KEYWORDS
Social work; Intellectual disability; Public policy; Human rights; Public health