Brazil grapples with visual disability job exclusion and recruitment data privacy rules

In Brazil, about 6.5 million people live with visual impairment, including roughly 650 thousand who are totally blind. A recent legal change classifying monocular vision as a disability has unintentionally enabled some employers to meet inclusion quotas by hiring candidates with only one functional eye, reducing opportunities for those with severe vision loss. Advocates argue the policy harms the most disadvantaged and call for a review of quota criteria and stronger enforcement of genuine accessibility measures.

Separately, Brazil’s General Data Protection Law (LGPD) now extends to the recruitment process. Companies must safeguard personal data collected from job applicants, limit the collection of sensitive information such as health or religious details, and retain data only for the period necessary to evaluate a candidate. Employers are urged to adopt clear data‑handling procedures, restrict access to candidate files, and ensure any additional information gathered during selection is strictly relevant to the role.