Experiências não visuais: percepção de acessibilidade em patrimônio histórico na perspectiva da pessoa com deficiência visual

Abstract

Introduction/objectives: Physical-spatial inaccessibility in Historical Heritage constitutes a social-environmental reality that limits the opportunity for mobility and the experience of many people to enjoy these environments. On the other hand, it is known that intervention processes to turn the listed buildings accessible are complex and require multidisciplinary knowledge accompanied by an understanding of the users' perception of the theme. This work that is based on the experience of blind and low vision people in Historical Heritage aims to understand non-visual experiences of spatial perception with a focus on accessibility in historic Heritage environments from the perspective of the visually impaired, with a view to subsidizing multisensory strategies for buildings of public use. The research has as object of study 02 historical buildings of symbolic value: the Municipal Theater Severino Cabral and the Municipal Library Félix Araújo, both located in Campina Grande, PB. Methodology: The methodology was based on a multi-method approach, containing: bibliographic and documentary (legal) review, evaluation of the physical-spatial conditions of the buildings analyzed through an accessibility assessment spreadsheet and the tool; understanding of the perception of the visually impaired user through questionnaires, accompanied tours and semi-structured interviews; and proposals for multisensory strategies that were developed based on the systematization and analysis of the data collected jointly with the help of a focus group. Results: From the data collected it was possible to: identify that the buildings under study have serious problems regarding physical-spatial accessibility; characterize the profile and know the relationship that the sample group has with the actions of mobility and accessibility, identifying the existing variability in the group and how it influences perception; to know how blind and low vision people perceive issues related to accessibility in Historical Heritage and, based on this information, together with all the knowledge acquired in the research, to propose multisensory strategies to contribute to making Historical Heritage more accessible. Final considerations: The use of a diversified methodology to analyze the conditions of accessibility in Historical Heritage and in parallel to seek to deepen the perception of people with visual impairments on this topic brought an innovative character that contributed to the proposal of multisensory strategies for the Historical Heritage becomes more accessible.