Valdir de Souza's wheelchair status led him to become a professional athlete, something he had never aspired to or imagined possible before suffering a workplace accident. Valdir watched his autonomy and independence vanish when he ended up in a wheelchair. However, his reality changed when he became the first athlete of the Faca na Cadeira Institute, a non-profit association founded in 2018 with the goal of promoting parasports as a means to aid rehabilitation for people with physical disabilities.
Valdir is a WCMX (Wheelchair Moto Cross) athlete, an extreme wheelchair sport on skate parks with obstacles. This practice has led the athlete to represent Brazil twice in world championships. He participates in the activities of the “Faca na Cadeira” circuit, one of the attractions at Reatech, which runs until Saturday at São Paulo Expo.
“Before sport, I had no autonomy. Today I leave the house by myself, push my chair, do wheelies. We show the other side of the person with a disability. The thing I hear most from the people who come to Faca na Cadeira is that they want to have a normal life and autonomy, to have the freedom to do things without having to keep asking people, the athlete recounts.
