Introduction:

This paper presents the experience of the undergraduate course in Social Work at the Federal University of Triângulo Mineiro - (UFTM) in relation to the discipline “Specific Legislation for Special Education”. The discipline was included in the curriculum of the course in 2013, aiming at training professionals committed to a practice based on an inclusive approach and respect for human beings. This need was identified from the presence of a visually impaired student in the Social Work course.

Objectives:

Document the contributions of a discipline in the academic training of the social worker.

Methods:

Learning strategies were used, promoting critical reflection in order to stimulate an ethical and political commitment to inclusive professional and personal practices in the interaction with diversity. The content worked on included general aspects of disability, legislation and policies for people with disabilities, in addition to sharing experiences with institutional visits.

Results:

The qualitative analysis of the pedagogical experience reveals that the discipline was offered for 6 semesters, to about 134 students, who demonstrated commitment to the proposed activities. Teachers and students positively evaluated the discipline, which provided an approximation to the needs of people with disabilities, in addition to be a space for critical and reflexive reevaluation of the problematic inclusion of people with disabilities.

Conclusions:

A challenge for the training of social workers is to prepare them to contribute to the insertion process of people with disabilities. In this way, the academic experience with students with disabilities allowed the expansion of inclusive awareness and the acceptance of diversity in the educational and professional space, thus giving opportunity to the commitment to fight / defend the right to difference.

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