Irene Lôbo
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Brasília – In 2004, the NGO, Rehabilitation International, ranked Brazil as the fifth best country in Latin America for a physically handicapped person to live and work. According to Carolina Sanches, who works at the government's agency for the Integration of the Physically Handicapped (Coordenadoria Nacional para a Integração da Pessoa Portadora de Deficiência) (Corde), one of the reasons Brazil has made progress in this area is the country's inclusive legislation.

Sanches adds that there are high hopes that the Handicapped Person Statute, which is now in the Congress, will further consolidate gains in the area. "If there is no additional progress, then there is little need for the statute. As the normal time for something like this to go through the legislative process is seven years, there is plenty of time for our ideas to mature."

According to the government statistical bureau (IBGE), Brazil has 24.5 million inhabitants with a variety of handicaps, around 14% of the population.

Translation: Allen Bennett