Persons with Disabilities in the Historic Patrimony of São Luís, Maranhão

Disability is defined as an interaction between what levels of functionality a person may have and the environment.

The lack of vision, for example, may not constitute a disability in any meaningful sense to a blind person in a well-designed or familiar environment.

Not all functional abilities involved in disability are the same.

Typical  medically-oriented categories used to group people who may share broadly similar accessibility and inclusion requirements include:

1.    Visual
2.    Auditory
3.    Cognitive/emotional
4.    Mobility

A complimentary approach avoids the implicit paternalism of a medical model and looks at the lifecycle of individuals to guide design solutions by the demographics of infant-child-youth-adult-senior. This segmentation also accounts for more temporary changes in a persons' functionality through things such as pregnancy, a broken limb, pushing a stroller, illiteracy in the local language, or intoxication.

Not all disabilities require the same design solution.

In fact, an ideal solution for one group (items lowered to be reached easily from a wheelchair, sidewalk ramps with a smooth texture and no lip) can be a danger to another group with a disability (collision danger with low objects for blind users or lack of tactile clues on ramps for canes.)

Good design requires a team of experts working directly with users.

As a result, all design solutions seeking access and inclusion require experts in Universal Design. Universal Design is user-centered design process that involves persons with disabilities in the design, construction, and ongoing maintenance monitoring process.
 Universal design is defined as:

Universal Design is a framework for the design of places, things, information, communication and policy to be usable by the widest range of people operating in the widest range of situations without special or separate design.

Permanent esthetically-integrated design solutions are preferred

While permanent esthetically-integrated design solutions are preferred and temporary aesthetically incongruous are to be avoided change is sometimes necessary. Best practices include designing for ease of maintenance, building with modularity that allows for upgrades, and constructing with hidden structural reinforcement permitting future expansion.
In fact, although observation demonstrates that most non-disabled users intentionally use accessibility features such as ramps, many individuals with significant sensory or mobility limitations through aging do not consider themselves disabled and avoid "ugly" stereotyping accessibility features.
In other words, esthetically-integrated design solutions are preferred both by persons with disabilities and those whose primary concern is the preservation of the integrity of a historic patrimony site.

If a user can't find it, it doesn't exist

Navigation through proper signage and environmental design is an essential element of the fully inclusive tourism destination.

Also essential is the existence of material describing the destination in modes that are accessible to visitors with disabilities: captioned photos and video, audio-described graphics, text in Braille. Studies exist on what constitutes the destination features that must be described for travelers with disabilities and how they are best published for use by this demographic. Experts in Inclusive Design are familiar with these emerging standards and best-practices and can provide guidance.

All this material must be available in accessible format online in the language of the desired client group before any Inclusive Destination project or itinerary can be considered complete.

Marketing should include persons with disabilities.

There is a "bonus" market hidden here.

Of all traveler niches persons with disabilities rely more heavily on word-of-mouth recommendation than any other group.

People with disabilities travel with an average of 1.5 people accompanying them.  Consider, for example, that an entire family with a member who has a disability will avoid an inaccessible hotel or destination causing those businesses to lose multiple times the income to be gained by not accommodating one person with a disability. Consider further that word-of-mouth dis-recommendation by the disability community guarantees that those economic losses will continue to multiply over time until accessible environments and inclusive practices are implemented.

In addition travelers with disabilities are more loyal return customers, spend an average of one day longer at a destination than other groups.

Inclusive Design in areas marked for historic preservation is an example of Geotourism.

Geotourism is defined as:

National Geographic defines geotourism as tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place -its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage, and the well-being of its residents. Geotourism incorporates the concept of sustainable tourism -that destinations should remain unspoiled for future generations- while allowing for enhancement that protects the character of the locale. Geotourism also adopts a principle from its cousin, ecotourism -that tourism revenue can promote conservation- and extends that principle beyond nature travel to encompass culture and history as well: all distinctive assets of a place.