O EXERCÍCIO PROFISSIONAL DE ASSISTENTES SOCIAIS E A “INCLUSÃO” DAS PESSOAS COM DEFICIÊNCIA

Abstract

This study aims to reflect on the professional practice of social workers from the perspective of defending the rights of people with disabilities, considering the challenges, limitations, and possibilities of action within the scope of Social Assistance Policy. Social workers are understood as being embedded in the contradictions of the capitalist mode of production; therefore, their work—focused on addressing social issues—also faces precarious conditions and tensions between institutional discourse and the lived realities of service users. The study examines social workers’ education and professional practice, highlighting socio-historical determinants and the relative autonomy that allows the category’s ethical-political commitment to the interests of the population served, shaping both limits and possibilities in professional practice. Labor precarization is analyzed as part of the structural transformations of capitalism, affecting both workers and the practice of social work in public policy. Grounded in the historical and theoretical-methodological foundations of Brazilian Social Work, particularly the works of Marilda Iamamoto, Maria Carmelita Yazbek, and other authors linked to the critical tradition, the study reflects on the challenge of being a critical professional committed to human emancipation in a context of commodification of rights and limitations in social policies. It highlights that so-called “inclusion” often takes the form of “integrative exclusion,” discussing structural inequalities, the living conditions of people with disabilities, ableism, and responses generated by social policies as expressions of social issues, especially within the Social Assistance field. The study focuses on social workers’ efforts to ensure the rights of people with disabilities within the Social Assistance Policy framework, emphasizing the professional practice within the Unified Social Assistance System (SUAS) and, in particular, the Family Protection and Comprehensive Care Service (PAIF). It is based on an experience report that illustrates daily activities, institutional limitations, and possible advances in professional practice. The final reflection points out that, although social work faces adverse conditions and structural challenges, it remains a strategic space for resistance and the promotion of social rights. The study reaffirms the importance of a critical professional practice, grounded in Marxist social theory and committed to transforming the conditions that produce and reproduce social exclusions and inequalities. This research is qualitative in nature, with an exploratory and descriptive approach.