1.1 Social participation of the person with intellectual disability: education and work

Social participation can be understood as a practice of citizenship and is related to participation in spaces and organizations in society. Thus, being a citizen means enjoying the necessary rights for social action and participation (^{Alencar, 2010}; ^{Serapioni, 2014}). ^{Silva, Jaccoud and Beghin (2005}) add that social participation would have a fundamental role in two aspects: in the expression of demands, such as the democratization of management, as well as in the execution of social policies. In this way, social participation plays an important role in terms of building a democratic society.

The idea of ​​social participation was being developed throughout a history that intertwines with that of the conceptions about disability. Since antiquity, conceptions of intellectual disability have emphasized the impossibility of healing and the inability to develop. These ideas caused many people to be marginalized, abandoned, segregated and institutionalized.

Only in the 20th century, intellectual disability came to be seen no longer as an impediment, but as part of the subject’s characteristics. This was one of the reasons that, from that moment on, people with intellectual disabilities became the target of research as well as of health and education actions, which intended to take into account their conditions of development.

In Brazil, the institutionalization of people with disabilities occurred in the early 19th century (^{Rodrigues & Maranhe, 2008}). In the 20th century, intellectual disability was considered a public health problem and, therefore, spaces were created, within hospitals, to serve children with disabilities. From the 1930s onwards, philanthropic institutions expanded, which favored that the care of people with intellectual disabilities was mostly carried out in the sphere of public charity (^{Giordano, 2000}). Until over half of that century, the service took place in institutions, special schools and exclusive classes for students with disabilities in schools. The work was carried out on several fronts: shelter for people with intellectual disabilities, education of this public through pedagogical workshops and teacher training courses (^{Lanna Júnior, 2010}; ^{Mendes, 2010}).

The referral to special classes was based on poor school performance and, therefore, not everyone who attended these classes were students with intellectual disabilities. However, the chance of returning to regular education was minimal because the service focused on rehabilitation would replace academic education (^{Glat, Plestch, & Fontes, 2007}).

In the early 1960s, the government’s initiative in creating the National Campaign for the Education and Rehabilitation of the Mentally Handicapped (Decree no. 48,961, of September 22, 1960), signals an attempt to “promote throughout the national territory, the education, training, rehabilitation and educational assistance of retarded children and other mentally disabled people of any age or sex” (Decree no. 48,961, 1960).

According to ^{Jannuzzi (2012}), the need for labor to operate in the labor market, driven by the country’s economic development, contributed to changing the conceptions of education. These changes extended to the disabled population, who came to be seen as being able to be educated in institutions that would provide this type of care, for the time necessary so that their family members could work. The performance of specialized institutions has strengthened over the years and has received support from the government through agreements. At that time, the concept of integration was in force, which implied the student’s responsibility (when he/she was able to enter a regular classroom), for his/her adaptation to the education system and, therefore, there was no concern with the environment, nor with the teaching conditions.

Up until the 1970s, Brazilian initiatives, as well as those existing in other countries, were centered on medical knowledge, specialists, family members and politicians, who were attributed the ability to make decisions about the lives of people with intellectual disabilities (^{Lanna Júnior, 2010}).

With the advent of the 1988 Federal Constitution, the result of the struggle of movements that claimed the right of citizenship for all people, the right of everyone to education is established and, in the case of people with disabilities, to specialized educational assistance, preferably in a regular education network. However, the practice of special education concentrated in philanthropic institutions still persisted and the experiences of inclusion were isolated (^{Caiado, 2014}). Despite this, social participation is beginning to be recognized (^{Alencar, 2010}; ^{Silva et al., 2005}). It appears as one of the foundations in the organization of public policies and as an institutional mechanism capable of guaranteeing social protection with regard to risks and vulnerabilities. The Federal Constitution states the need to create accessible prevention and care services and programs that facilitate the social integration of people with disabilities, whether in education or at work.

In the 1990s, the social participation project was strengthened in the sense of expanding the participation of civil society focused on social solidarity (^{Silva et al., 2005}). Society organized itself to begin the process of institutionalizing social participation. An example of this is Law no. 8,213, of July 24, 1991, which establishes the obligation for companies to hire people with disabilities.

With regard to Education, the Salamanca Statement, proclaimed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1994, calls into question the diversity of forms of participation by students from different groups traditionally overlooked by school systems and the responsibility of nations and civil society in implementing inclusive education. In Brazil, the National Education Guidelines and Framework Law (Law no. 9,394, of December 20, 1996) incorporates the perspective present in the Salamanca Statement and mentions the need to support the entry and permanence of students with disabilities at all education levels.

The Special Education National Guidelines (2001) address the different aspects involved in the provision of services and the elimination of barriers that hinder access to education. Brazil is also a signatory to the 1999 Guatemala Convention (Decree no. 3,956, of October 8, 2001). The Decree addresses the elimination of discrimination against people with disabilities. Disability is understood as the set of difficulties that restrict a person’s participation in different types of activities, either permanently or temporarily, and that can be caused or aggravated by different environmental factors.

The 2004 document, O acesso de alunos com deficiência às escolas e classes comuns da rede regular (Access for students with disabilities to schools and common classes in the regular school system - Brazil, 2004), discusses the changes needed for schools to become inclusive and that solidarity, cooperation, dialogue, creativity and a critical spirit should be put into practice.

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, adopted at the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) in 2007, promulgated in Brazil in 2009, through Decree no. 6,949, of August 25, 2009, states that disability results from the interaction of people with the barriers resulting from attitudes and the environment, which prevent the participation of this public in society in equal opportunities with the population in general. The document establishes three spheres of participation: economic (participation in the labor market, constitution of income and benefits for people with disabilities), social (family, community and leisure participation, as well as the role of people with intellectual disabilities) and cultural (school participation and access to culture). Regarding participation in education, the Convention ensures that people with disabilities receive the necessary support so that they can participate at all levels of education (Basic Education, Higher Education, Education for Youth and Adults and continuing training). It also provides for the possibility of individualized support for the full development of the target population of Special Education.

Students with disabilities have been entitled to Specialized Educational Service (SES) since the 1988’s Federal Constitution. The guarantee of this service was reaffirmed in the National Policy for Special Education from the Perspective of Inclusive Education (Política Nacional de Educação Especial na Perspectiva da Educação Inclusiva - PNEEPEI) in 2008. Assistance must occur throughout the schooling process of the student as a complementary or supplementary service to their education and must be carried out in the multifunctional resource rooms. SES cannot replace the regular education offered in the classroom. The importance of these documents lies in the fact that they reflect a change in the conception of Special Education, since previously a large portion of the population with disabilities was educated in segregated classes and institutions.

The school participation of people with intellectual disabilities has increased over the years. The number of students with this disability represents the majority of those enrolled, compared to students with other disabilities. Some researches, such as ^{Laplane (2014}) and ^{Meletti and Ribeiro (2014}), carried out based on the official data of the School Census, released by the National Institute for Educational Studies and Research Anísio Teixeira (INEP), show that people with intellectual disabilities are enrolled in Basic Education. Studies also show that this population has reached different levels of education (Laplane, 2014; Meletti & Ribeiro, 2014). The enrollments of students with disabilities in Basic Education have increased, while they have decreased in exclusive schools of Special Education. Another advance is the entry into Higher Education: in a universe of 38,272 enrollments of students with disabilities, registered in 2017, 5.34% are from academics with intellectual disabilities (INEP, 2018).

Technical Note no. 4, 2014, provides guidance on supporting documents for students with disabilities, global developmental disorders and giftedness in the Basic Education School Census. According to the publication, it is not necessary to present a medical report to have access to educational support services. The requirement for proof of clinical diagnosis can be characterized as imposing barriers to access educational systems and SES, which have a pedagogical and non-clinical character. The document allows the referral of students with special educational needs to the resource room, but it also allows these students to be counted as subjects with disabilities.

The rights established in several documents are in the process of being implemented, especially with regard to the right to academic content learning, which are crucial for the development of students with intellectual disabilities (Plestch 2014; Plestch & Mendes, 2015).

The need to develop mechanisms of social participation accessible to historically excluded groups and vulnerable groups was reaffirmed in the National Policy for Social Participation, instituted by Decree no. 8,243, of May 23, 2014. The councils and commissions of public policies, national conferences, dialogue tables, hearings and public consultations, as well as virtual environments, constituted, among others, the instances of realization of the right of social participation (Decree no. 8,243/2014). Thus, the document, the first objective of which was to consolidate it as a method of government, referred to the formulation, management, monitoring and social control of public policies for social participation.

The law was repealed by Decree no. 9,759, of April 11, 2019, signed by the President of the Republic Jair Messias Bolsonaro, which extinguishes and establishes guidelines, rules and limitations for federal public administration collegiate bodies (Decree no. 9,759/2019). In the revocation Decree, there is nothing about a national social participation policy. The National Council for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Conselho Nacional dos Direitos da Pessoa com Deficiência - CONADE), created in 1999, constituted as a result of the participation of people with disabilities in social spaces, was affected by the revocation Decree.

To ^{Bezerra, Szwako, Romao and Vello (2019}), the revocation of the Decree that instituted the National Policy for Social Participation initially impacts policies related to human rights, racial equality, indigenous, among others aimed at minorities that, historically, were on the margins society, since, without collegiate bodies, the implementation and formulation of public policies is uncertain. The revocation of the Decree thus contradicts studies that investigate the forms of social participation of people with disabilities and that affirm that activities of a varied nature such as: work, study and participation in community, religious and leisure environments collaborate for the development of these people and for the improvement of their quality of life (^{Lima, Tavares, Brito, & Cappelle, 2013}; ^{Saviani-Zeoti & Petean, 2008}).

As we can see, the path of recognition and guarantee of social participation as a right is winding and tense, with advances and setbacks that mark the different historical moments and reflect the movement of political and social forces. In this context, people with intellectual disabilities still face barriers, whether attitudinal or architectural, that limit or prevent participation. Entry into the labor market can be an example.

Work is performed for a good part of life, and it is through it that income is obtained for the sustenance and survival of people and their families, in addition to being a source of recognition and a space for exercising citizenship. Professional practice allows the worker to come into contact with other subjects, which makes work activity a form of social relationship (^{Lima et al., 2013}). Work has a significant role with regard to the construction of adult identity, since the exercise of a paid function is related to becoming an adult (^{Monteiro, 2014}). It is through professional occupation that people can learn a job, gain autonomy and independence. It is this practice that will also guide people’s lives and make it possible to experience important experiences for their engagement as citizens. In addition, income is important in terms of possibilities for social participation.

In relation to people with disabilities, work can be a means of inclusion and social participation as long as it allows the subject to develop and demonstrate his/her potential and knowledge (^{Masson, 2009}; ^{Pereira-Silva & Furtado, 2012}). From the 1950s, this public began to prepare professionally and to work in specialized institutions or sheltered workshops. These workshops, still present today, are supervised places, with the objective to offer professional activities, whether paid or not, with a view to include this population in the labor market (^{Meletti, 1997}).

In Brazil, the movement for the inclusion of people with disabilities in the labor market has been gaining notoriety since the 1960s, a process originating from the Convention of the International Labor Organization, the objective of which was the commitment of member countries to adopt and follow a policy national law that constitutes an instrument to fight discrimination against this portion of the population (^{Bezerra & Silva, 2011}). The participation of people with disabilities in the labor sphere began to be widespread, then, in the 1970s, due to the thinking that prevailed at the time that the purchasing power of families would increase and, as a consequence, there would be a repercussion on the Brazilian economy (^{Jannuzzi, 2012}).

The practice took place through training for simple and repetitive manual tasks, with an emphasis on discipline. Specifically for the public with intellectual disabilities, at that time, as a result of a partnership between the National Center for Special Education (Centro Nacional de Educação Especial - CENESP) and the Association of Parents and Friends of the Exceptional (Associação de Pais e Amigos dos Excepcionais - APAE) of São Paulo, there was a habilitation campaign, with a focus on the labor market and professionalization. This was because the government realized that the cost of education would be lower than lifelong support (^{Jannuzzi, 2012}; Plestch, 2014). In the 1980s, Brazil enacted the Federal Constitution, which already provided for the prohibition of any discrimination related to wages and the admission criteria of workers with disabilities (Constitution of the Federative Republic of Brazil, 1988). It is also during this period that the country ratifies an International Labor Organization convention in order to guarantee employment and the possibility of social inclusion (^{Bezerra & Silva, 2011}).

An advance regarding the employability of people with disabilities is the approval of Law no. 8,213/1991, which provides for Social Security Benefit Plans and other measures. Known as the Quota Law, this Law aims to put into effect the inclusion in the world of work, by reserving vacancies according to the number of employees of the company (Law no. 8,213/1991).

In the late 1990s, Brazil published Decree no. 3.298, of December 20, 1999, which regulates Law no. 7,853, of October 24, 1989, on the National Policy for the Integration of Persons with Disabilities. One of the guidelines of the document concerns the expansion of possibilities for the economic participation of people with disabilities through professional qualification and inclusion in the work context. The law provides support for disabled workers if necessary.

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN, 2007) defends equal opportunities and remuneration, access to initial and continuing training programs, job placement services and the possibility of professional advancement, in addition to ensuring adaptations necessary to enable the work of these people in different environments.

Despite the existence of initiatives and even laws and official documents that guide the insertion of people with intellectual disabilities in the labor market, research shows the difficulty that this population faces in their professional practice. The first of them lies in the fact that the hiring occurs only because of the obligation and not because of the recognition of the professional skills of the people hired (^{Masson, 2009}; ^{Tanaka & Manzini, 2005}; ^{Toldrá, De Marque, & Brunello, 2010}).

In addition, the professional training carried out in specialized institutions and in sheltered workshops through agreements can hinder this process. In this case, as the final product of the work of people with intellectual disabilities is marketed by the institutions, a conflict of interest may arise, and the already trained worker may not be forwarded for hiring by a company (^{Meletti, 1997}). Other aspects that culminate in the difficulty of participation of people with intellectual disabilities at work are related to the training and lack of professional preparation of workers with intellectual disabilities, as well as to the stigma and prejudices on the part of society and employers. These situations can have disadvantages for these people. The available opportunities are, in general, operational vacancies, with low remuneration and with little prospect of promotion, although the worker remains in the same function for a long time and has mastered the work performed (^{Godim, 2017}; ^{Rodrigues, 2010}; ^{Rosa & Denari, 2013}).

However, when these people are able to act professionally, the effects are positive in attitudes, in the ways of interacting and in the way they are seen by others. ^{Mourão, Sampaio and Duarte (2012}) showed that the work causes the disabled person and his/her family to present attitudinal changes, because when the first is no longer seen as incapable, the second starts to value the family member included in the labor market. Other changes were also observed, such as increased self-esteem of people with disabilities, greater participation in the family, achievement of autonomy and independence. In the social perspective, ^{Lima et al. (2013}) point out that for people with disabilities, participating in the labor market represents a way to achieve social acceptance. This public leaves the condition of social isolation or little participation to create their own bonds in different environments. Professional performance is an inherent right of any human being and allows for his/her autonomy, in addition to being necessary to guarantee his/her survival. A set of changes is necessary with regard to training for the labor market, which usually occurs in specialized institutions, in addition to the transformation of the employers’ conception of the worker with disabilities.