Tiago Ramos Henriques

Tiago was a sociology student with plans—travel, career, relationships. Then a drunk driver changed everything. He woke up paraplegic at 22, facing a Portugal not built for wheelchairs.

Thirteen years later, he's rebuilt a life. He works part-time (full-time would risk losing disability benefits), advocates for accessibility, and navigates a country where ramps are afterthoughts and "adapted" often means "technically legal, practically useless."

Finding work was brutal—employers see the wheelchair first, qualifications second. Finding housing was worse—accessible apartments barely exist, cost more, and landlords hesitate. Dating is complicated; independence requires constant negotiation.

He's neither inspiring nor pitiful—just a person navigating systems designed for others. He votes for whoever actually addresses accessibility, which is almost no one.