São Luís city for all? The wheelchair user in the multiple cities of the Maranhao's capital: the historical center

Abstract

This paper analyzes the various handicap spaces in the urban setting of Maranhao's capital, providing input from the viewpoint of the wheelchair user concerning how they have utilized these spaces, in the specific case, the area of the historic center. Specifically, an analysis is made about the city of São Luis from the standpoint of a person with physical disabilities. To accomplish this, the analysis deals with the terms accessibility and mobility and the importance of implementing policies that meet those demands and focuses, accordingly, upon the terms under discussion in the urban setting of Maranhao's capital. Based on qualitative research, information from the oral testimonies of wheelchair users wasobtained using semi-structured interviews that were recorded and later transcribed. Themes such as city, disability, and discrimination arose from those accounts. With those matters as a starting point, this work defends putting public policies into place that are inclusive and conducive to fairness and quality of life. Consequently, these should extend to minorities such as wheelchair users as well. We emphasize a clear sense of citizen rights, while at the same time understanding the difficulties in the implementation of such policies.