Universalism and targeting in the policy of attention to the handicapped person

Abstract

This article deals with the special attention that is given to handicapped persons in the municipality of Betim, state of Minas Gerais, with the purpose of discussing the notions of universalism and targeting in social policies. Initially, it examines the conceptualization of handicap, highlighting the institutionalization of the approach to this issue in the international environment and how it is inserted in the Brazilian public agenda. Next, it analyses technical problems regarding the application of the concept in the field of social policies. Those difficulties are evident in discrepancies referring to the mensuration of the phenomenon incidence in Betim, which may be observed in the comparison between data obtained from the demographic census (2000) and data from a research carried out by Fundação João Pinheiro in 2005 at the mentioned city. Based on outcomes of this research, the present article describes the relation between poverty and handicap. It shows the perverse consequences of a social policy as the one implemented in Brazil, which proves to be incapable of assuring this population universal access to essential services. Furthermore, it reveals the existence of a reciprocal correlation between poverty and handicap: not only poverty foments handicap but also handicap contributes to poverty. So, the article highlights the social policies focusing on handicapped persons currently set by the government, and it shows that despite targeting on these people, the government is not capable of assuring them minimum conditions of a worthy life. In the conclusions, it argues that a more consistent and refined articulation is needed between targeting and interventions or universal services in the field of social policies.