Perle Bouge can’t believe it herself. Just one week after the athletes’ parade on the Champs-Elysées, and less than ten days after the end of the Paris Paralympic Games, the Aviron Bayonnais rower was refused by a Parisian taxi. She launches a rant on social networks. The non-appointment of a minister for disability is also not a good sign. The athlete believes that the road to inclusion is still long.
To justify his refusal, the driver assured that the SUV trunk could not contain Perle Bouge’s wheelchair. Bad choice, The Bayonnaise has the same carShe explains: “I tried to explain to him that it was okay but no, he never wanted to take me. We had great Olympic and Paralympic Games with a crowd that was there, with all this fervor, and we realize that there is still a long way to go for some people. On the other hand, the positive point is that there is great solidarity in the queue because there were 20, 25 people waiting, who refused to get into his taxi. So, that’s the little positive point, people were touched by saying that it was not possible.” The second taxi driver didn’t make any difficulty.
Looking back after the Games
Perle Bouge says she hopes there will be no going back after the games and thethe non-appointment of a minister for disabilities is not a good sign either. “The train had been set in motion, almost a TGV, and now we’re almost back on a locomotive, so we’re going back a little and it’s a shame. We’re leaving the Olympic and Paralympic Games, there’s a sports ministry, but it’s no longer the Olympic and Paralympic Games. However, there will be Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2026. There will be the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2030 in France. I feel annoyed and a little sad. People with disabilities are not considered.”
Pearl moves will she report his mishap with the Parisian taxi driver? She thinks about it. “People told me to report things so I’m going to write to the Paris city hall. I don’t want to generalise but he still made a mistake. It’s a mistake, it’s discrimination. I’m going to take action, not for myself, but so that it doesn’t happen again.”
