Paper short abstract:

It analyzes the incorporation of the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in the Brazilian socio-political context. Specifically, it describes through ethnography, the "assessment of disability" based on the conceptual changes brought about by the CRPD.

Paper long abstract:

In 2006, United Nations (UN) promulgated the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). It is one of the most progressive declarations of human rights, as it has radically changed the way as disability was viewed by international organizations. One of the transformations was the adoption of a definition of disability that expands the way it was historically used, that is, it change from only on individual and bodily definitions and starts to adopt a social perspective. Brazil ratified the CRPD in 2009 and, since then, it has been adopting strategies to adjust public policies in accordance with international regulations. The central points in the discussion about policies for people with disabilities in the Brazilian context is to define who is the person with disabilities for access to services and benefits, such as income transfer policies and assistive technologies. However, disputes over the definition of disability and the best ways to evaluate (questionnaire to be used, more qualified professionals to carry out the evaluation) have caused impasses and instabilities regarding access to public policies and rights advocated in CRPD. Based on an ethnography of a small village and with the participation of the author in national research on the implementation of disability assessment, this communication will analyze: professional and epistemological disputes regarding the concept of disability in the elaboration of public policies; ways in which organizations of people with disabilities have problematized the issue; consequences of the form of assessment in the daily lives of subjects with disabilities.