Inclusão espacial das pessoas com deficiência visual: uma análise dos espaços públicos centrais de Campina Grande - PB.

Abstract

The mobility and accessibility at the public spaces are rights ensured by law, for that any person with deficiency can enjoy these spaces equally rest of population who does not present deficiency. Therefore, this research seeks to verify if the public spaces in Campina Grande-PB downtown are accessible to people with visual impairment, as establishes the Master Plan and Urban Mobility Plan of the city. For that, starting from the following questioning: Are the public spaces of Campina Grande city ready for receive people with visual impairment, according to referred plans? If not, are which main challenges found by them in these locations? How can they accomplish their necessary activities in these places? Which are the spatial tactics used by them to achieve their desired goals in public places in downtown? From the raised dilemma, the research has as general objective to verify the adaptation conditions of public spaces of Campina Grande-PB downtown, in it concerns to mobility and to accessibility that person with visual impairment. And, as specific objectives: to verify which of these places that present more accessibility; identify which are the places that present more difficulty to the people with visual impairment move around; understand how happens the mobility of these people in the public repartitions and, lastly, present the places who stand out in accessibility and mobility for the subjects. The adopted methodology was the bibliographical approach in books, official documents that rules the mobility and accessibility for people with visual impairment, especially the Master Plan and the Urban Mobility of Campina Grande and, as well, existent documents in electronic addresses that dealing with issues relative to socio spatial inclusion of this population. With the bibliographical material studied and analyzed, we managed a data gathering at the Institute of the Blind of Campina Grande, which concentrate a large number of these subjects, who provided information about the mobility and accessibility conditions on studied spaces. This research constituted as a case study made in a specific place, without preoccupation of confronts the research results, but to find satisfactory answers to the investigated questions. By the other way, this case study it constituted in a research of qualitative character. To obtain the empirical data, we resort to application of questionnaires that contains open and closed questions. By the end, the research results enlightening that the public spaces on Campina Grande-PB downtown shows infrastructure adaptation problems , which difficult the mobility and accessibility of people with visual impairment and inhibits the action of these subjects in public arenas where the political questions are posed and debated. In this sense, they are spaces that exclude them, despite the law ensures the adaptation that guarantee their mobility and accessibility spatial on these arenas.