A group of 12 visually impaired students spent the first days of June pioneering a visit to the history of telecommunications in the Oi Futuro Museum, in Rio de Janeiro. "I thought it’s very important," says student Felipe Fortunato, adding that he would like to return "again and again" to view all the attractions that the museum has to offer.

The group is made up of  the students from +Oportunidades English, an initiative run by the State Enterprise Institute in partnership with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Grupo +Unidos, Chevron and the State Government. In addition to contemplating a thousand public school students in Rio de Janeiro, the program has grown to serve young people with visual disabilities in partnership with the Instituto Benjamin Constant (IBC), which opened three months ago with a pioneering class of thirteen students, nine with low-vision and four blind.

The IBC students have taken classes in Basic English, and employability, and information technology through the Enter Jovem Plus, with material specially adapted for this audience. According to the class teacher, Fabiana Castro, the proposed inclusion of the course "makes room for a truly inclusive consciousness, and to guide, prepare and accompany these students in their insertion in to the labor market." For the teacher, who accompanied the group on their visit to the Museum, entry into the world of work is an important way of ensuring the "awareness of the real place of the poor in society."

Photos of the visit to the Oi Futuro Museum can be viewed here.