BETWEEN INFORMAL GOVERNANCE AND TERRITORIAL JUSTICE: OVERCOMING SOCIO-SPATIAL DEFICIENCY IN RIO DE JANEIRO'S FAVELAS

Keywords: People with Disabilities; Informal Governance; Territorial Justice; Active Aging; Rio de Janeiro
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Friday
Session Start / End Time: 2/25/2022 09:40 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/25/2022 11:00 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 70

Abstract

The issue addressed here is the precariousness imposed by the disabled people who live in urban slums (favelas). The objective is to critically assess the existential circumstances that elderly people with disabilities face in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. First, the notion of disabilities relativized, understanding that, for people with disabilities, most problems stem from the socio-spatial context in which they live. In this sense, the perverse generalization of disability as a potentially producing condition of social exclusion based on stigmas, stereotypes and prejudices is questioned. More specifically, it questions the injustice of spatiality, in the terms proposed by Mustafa Dikeç. From a theoretical point of view, active aging will be focused as a pragmatic horizon for overcoming the socio-spatial and moral barriers that people with disabilities face. In turn, informal governance will be taken as an analytical background, as the individual and/or collective initiatives of slums residents aimed at the well-being of people with disabilities function as effective operators of territorial justice. The public policies adopted by the Municipal Council for the Defense of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities of Rio de Janeiro will be referenced for a critical evaluation. Finally, the concrete examples of slum dwellers in the city of Rio de Janeiro will be based on indications of a propositional and inclusive agenda for the recognition of their rights to a dignified life. In short, the urbanization process without urbanity potentializes the contingent of people with disabilities. Therefore, we are dealing with a geo-ethical problem.