The Paralympic Games will celebrate inclusion through sport in Paris from August 28 to September 8. However, for people with disabilities who would like to visit the French capital to attend the competitions, mobility is a real obstacle. What a shame! This problem, of course, affects the local population, 8% of the 2.1 million Parisians. The maze of corridors and stairs in stations that most often have no elevator, as well as platforms that are not adjusted to the height of the trains, make the Parisian network a mobility black spot for these people.
The president of the region and its transport authority, Valérie Pécresse, made it the “next challenge” for the next ten years in early August, and the Paris municipality has committed to advocating for the project after the Games. “We will not be able to make the network 100% accessible” due to historical constraints, believes Pierre Deniziot, regional councillor and administrator of the transport authority, but “where we can, we must do it”.
In the run-up to the Paralympic Games, only 29 stations on the Paris Metro on two lines are accessible to people with reduced mobility. Tram and bus lines, on the other hand, are 100% accessible, according to the city hall. On the regional network, four out of five stations, handling 95% of traffic, have been adapted for the Games, assures the transport authority.
However, Nicolas Mérille, national accessibility advisor for the APF France Handicap association, denounces “a segregation that does not say its name: people with disabilities do not have the same daily life at all”. “We do not have the right to any spontaneity”, with “always everywhere disruptions in our movements”, obstacles in the street or to access establishments, but also in transport, he argues.
Regional train lines (RER) require reservations or to go to a ticket office to be accompanied by agents. In the evening “it’s much more complicated”, underlines Karim Mimouni, treasurer of the Regional Handisport Committee: “going for a drink” or even “working late” requires having your own vehicle or calling a suitable taxi, the number of which increased from 200 to 1000 with the Games. The public transport on demand service can be booked 48 hours in advance, but is understaffed.
By the end of September, all establishments open to the public will have to be compliant. But in France, only 900,000 out of 2 million of these premises have started the process, according to the office of the resigning Minister Delegate for Disabled People, Fadila Khattabi. In Paris, there are nearly 40,000, according to the police headquarters. The city has made 91% of its establishments accessible, inaugurating 17 “increased accessibility districts” at the beginning of July with specific routes to sports, health, cultural or school facilities.
While he welcomes this work, Nicolas Mérille deplores the fact that one only has to go out into his neighborhood to see that many places are not accessible.
