Portugal 25 escudos 1982

The coin's story

This cupronickel 25 escudos coin is one of the two coins issued by Portugal for the International Year of Disabled Persons, proclaimed for 1981 by the United Nations General Assembly. The theme of the year, “full participation and equality”, affirmed the right of disabled people to take part in the life of their society on the same terms as other citizens. The reverse pays tribute to the poet António Feliciano de Castilho, who became blind in childhood after measles. Castilho was also the author of a method for learning to read, published in 1853 as the “Método Português-Castilho”. The other coin of the pair, of 100 escudos, honours Jacob Rodrigues Pereira, a pioneer of deaf education. The reverse was engraved by Armando Matos Simões, the coin bears the mark incm82 and was struck in 1,990,000 pieces.