After a formal complaint by state councillor Luciana Trindade and repercussions on the Viver sem Limites blog and on Rádio Eldorado, the city claims that 950 homeless disabled people are attended to daily - but does not provide any data to prove it.
State councillor Luciana Trindade's complaint about the abandonment of disabled people on the streets exposed a reality that has been ignored for years by São Paulo's public administration. The case was featured on the blog Living without Limits, by journalist Luiz Alexandre Souza Ventura, on the Estadão portal, and on Radio Eldorado, This prompted the town hall to make an official statement.
In the article “Nobody knows how many people with disabilities are on the streets in the city of São Paulo”, Ventura describes this population as “invisible within invisibility”, victims of a “double layer of erasure” caused by the absence of specific public policies and effective actions by the municipal departments of Human Rights, Social Assistance and People with Disabilities.
The journalist points out that the latest official survey of the homeless population, carried out in 2021 by the City Council, does not include any information on disability. According to the study, 49% of homeless people live in the central region, mostly men, black or brown, and with an average age of 42 - but no mention of how many have a disability.
Luciana Trindade, a disabled woman living in the city centre and secretary of PSB Inclusão, has been demanding answers for ten years. Last week, she submitted a new formal complaint to the City Hall, the relevant departments, the Public Prosecutor's Office, the Public Defender's Office and the municipal councils, asking for measures to tackle what she classifies as “institutionalised abandonment”.
“There is no exact figure. We don't know how many disabled people there are on the streets in São Paulo, what type of disability they have, or what their needs are,” she said. According to her, the shelters don't have carers to help with basic tasks, such as transferring people from their wheelchairs to the bathroom or to bed. “There is no distribution of supplies, such as nappies and pads, nor are there any adapted public toilets available. The situation is critical.”
Luciana also reported that some shelters refuse to take care of people and that there are no vehicles adapted to transport them. “During the intense cold, they are completely abandoned, without blankets or shelter,” she said.
She also pointed out that there is no specific reception centre for people with disabilities. “There are facilities for families, for trans women, for those who have pets or work as carters, but nothing for us,” she warned.
The blog Living without Limits sent five questions to the City Hall and the departments responsible on 22 October, asking about the existence of data, the accessibility of shelters, adapted vehicles, investments and service plans. As of 28 October, no reply had been received.
Following the repercussions, the Municipal Secretariat for Social Assistance and Development (SMADS) sent a note stating that “the city has a daily average of approximately 950 people with disabilities living on the streets who are assisted by the services of the social assistance network” and that “all Shelter Centres have at least one room prepared to receive people with physical disabilities, including the adaptation of bathrooms and other facilities”.
The note also mentions services such as Day Centres, Inclusion Centres for People with Disabilities (NIPd) and Institutional Reception Services for People with Disabilities (SAIPcD).
However, the city has not provided any data or methodologies to back up the estimate. Ventura pointed out on air that “this ‘no response’ is a clear sign, an eloquent sign” about the lack of priority given to the issue.
For Luciana, the omission is unacceptable. “Disabled people living on the streets exist, but they are treated as if they didn't exist. The basics are missing: data, structure and the will to act.”
Photo credit: Luciana Trindade. Personal archive