diff --git a/include/osgUI/Widget b/include/osgUI/Widget
index fb37fd8a4..03e9803e6 100644
--- a/include/osgUI/Widget
+++ b/include/osgUI/Widget
@@ -76,6 +76,15 @@ public:
     TextSettings* getTextSettings() { return _textSettings.get(); }
     const TextSettings* getTextSettings() const { return _textSettings.get(); }
 
+    /** set the visibility of the widget.*/
+    virtual void setVisible(bool visible) { _visible = visible; }
+    /** get the visibility of the widget.*/
+    virtual bool getVisible() const { return _visible; }
+
+    /** set whether the widget is enabled for user interaction.*/
+    virtual void setEnabled(bool enabled) { _enabled = enabled; }
+    /** get whether the widget is enabled for user interaction.*/
+    virtual bool getEnabled() const { return _enabled; }
 
     enum FocusBehaviour
     {
@@ -136,6 +145,9 @@ protected:
     osg::ref_ptr<AlignmentSettings> _alignmentSettings;
     osg::ref_ptr<FrameSettings> _frameSettings;
     osg::ref_ptr<TextSettings> _textSettings;
+
+    bool                _visible;
+    bool                _enabled;
 };
 
 }
diff --git a/src/osgUI/Widget.cpp b/src/osgUI/Widget.cpp
index f28f5866d..a4dabc95f 100644
--- a/src/osgUI/Widget.cpp
+++ b/src/osgUI/Widget.cpp
@@ -28,7 +28,9 @@ using namespace osgUI;
 Widget::Widget():
     _focusBehaviour(FOCUS_FOLLOWS_POINTER),
     _hasEventFocus(false),
-    _graphicsInitialized(false)
+    _graphicsInitialized(false),
+    _visible(true),
+    _enabled(true)
 {
     setNumChildrenRequiringEventTraversal(1);
 }
@@ -40,7 +42,9 @@ Widget::Widget(const Widget& widget, const osg::CopyOp& copyop):
     _graphicsInitialized(false),
     _alignmentSettings(osg::clone(widget._alignmentSettings.get(), copyop)),
     _frameSettings(osg::clone(widget._frameSettings.get(), copyop)),
-    _textSettings(osg::clone(widget._textSettings.get(), copyop))
+    _textSettings(osg::clone(widget._textSettings.get(), copyop)),
+    _visible(widget._visible),
+    _enabled(widget._enabled)
 {
     setNumChildrenRequiringEventTraversal(1);
 }
diff --git a/src/osgWrappers/serializers/osgUI/Widget.cpp b/src/osgWrappers/serializers/osgUI/Widget.cpp
index 3bb1c8fbf..c6ef66daf 100644
--- a/src/osgWrappers/serializers/osgUI/Widget.cpp
+++ b/src/osgWrappers/serializers/osgUI/Widget.cpp
@@ -77,6 +77,8 @@ REGISTER_OBJECT_WRAPPER( Widget,
     ADD_OBJECT_SERIALIZER( AlignmentSettings, osgUI::AlignmentSettings, NULL );
     ADD_OBJECT_SERIALIZER( TextSettings, osgUI::TextSettings, NULL );
 
+    ADD_BOOL_SERIALIZER(Visible, true);
+    ADD_BOOL_SERIALIZER(Enabled, true);
 
     ADD_METHOD( createGraphics );
     ADD_METHOD( createGraphicsImplementation );