The paper presents the situation of persons with disabilities in Poland with special emphasis on.its legal, financial and employment aspects. The analysis focuses on the present condition but certain elements of the social situation of that particular group of people are described from the historical perspective, from the perspective of the past, present and future. References to legal regulations of these problems applied in the European Union also constitute the integral thread of the considerations shown in the paper. That approach enabled the presentation of tendencies and basic circumstances in the field as well as the presentation of the relatively complex evaluation of the protection of rights of the disabled. The paper discusses only some problems of the social environment of the disabled, but from the point of view of the author the most important ones. Their recognition was not an easy task due to multiplicity, diversity and variability with time of data characterizing the situation of the persons with disabilities. Equally important issues connected with their social and professional rehabilitation as well as prevention are also to be the subject of further interest.