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PARIS — Since the start of the Olympics, Ndieme Lame has been making daily trips to Stade de France, where she serves as a volunteer, assisting visitors in navigating their way. The 57-year-old woman, who uses a wheelchair, is impressed by how easy it has been to traverse the city using public transportation to reach the Olympics stadium. “I would never have believed I could get here almost on my own,” she said on Wednesday after a 1.5-hour commute from her home in southern Paris.
Her daily journey highlights the city’s efforts to improve accessibility for disabled individuals ahead of the Olympics and the Paralympics. Lame noted that an online system allowing her to book assistance at train stations has been particularly useful.
Despite the progress made, challenges remain, especially within the underground Metro system, where most stations are not fully accessible for wheelchair users. Lame wonders whether station assistants will still be present after the Paralympics, which begin just over two weeks after the Olympics. “Right now, people are looking out for us, but after September, it will return to the daily struggle,” she said.
On Wednesday, journalists from AP followed Lame on her journey from Porte de Versailles in southwestern Paris to Stade de France in Saint Denis, a northern suburb. Wearing the teal-colored uniform worn by volunteers for Paris 2024, Lame rolled out through automatic doors and took the elevator down to street level. From there, her electric wheelchair took her to the nearest tram station, which she accessed via a smooth concrete ramp. “So far, so good,” she said as she boarded the crowded T3 line, which runs parallel to the Périphérique, the highway that separates Paris from its suburbs.
At Cité-Universitaire station, Lame transferred to an RER train. A station assistant helped her use the elevator to the platform. Another placed a ramp on the platform so she could board the train. Although the process is straightforward, it is not always reliable. “Sometimes the websites say the elevator is operating, and then it turns out it’s not,” she said. This often forces her to make detours, resulting in significant delays. According to IDF Mobilité, the regional public transport authority, 53 out of the 162 elevators in train and Metro stations in the Paris region were undergoing maintenance on Wednesday.
After leaving the train at Plaine Saint-Denis station, Lame arrived at Stade de France in her wheelchair. “I was constantly worried about being late,” she said. One of the biggest obstacles for wheelchair users at Stade de France is access to the stadium via the Passerelle de l’Ecluse, a pedestrian bridge with stairs but no elevator. Hugues Valet, a 26-year-old aspiring para-triathlete who lost the use of his legs in a car accident, was surprised to find an assistant to help him up the stairs when he and his cousin arrived at the stadium to watch athletics. “When I saw the stairs from afar, I felt pretty down and told my little cousin that we would have to turn back and take a long detour to find another entrance,” Valet said. “I am quite surprised at how we are being taken care of.”
Andrew Parsons, president of the International Paralympic Committee, praised the city’s efforts to make transportation more accessible but noted the frustration many feel regarding other parts of the transport system, especially the more than century-old Metro system, where 93% of stations are still inaccessible or only partially accessible for wheelchair users. “When the Metro system was built in Paris over a century ago, disabled individuals were absolutely marginalized and considered second-class citizens,” Parsons said. “I understand the level of frustration, but I would like to view the glass as half full and think about where we were, where we are, and where we need to go.”
As the Paralympics begin on August 28, the focus will not only be on the athletes but also on the city itself — its triumphs in accessibility and the gaps that still need to be closed. Paris has made significant investments to improve accessibility since winning its bid to host the Summer Games in 2017. The city boasts that 100% of its bus routes and tram lines are now wheelchair accessible, with €125 million allocated for further efforts. The city council has also invested in creating 17 “enhanced accessibility districts,” where public facilities and shops are outfitted with ramps, tactile strips, and designated parking spaces for disabled individuals.
“The idea was to carry out a radical transformation of the city,” said Lamia El Aaraje, Paris’ Deputy Mayor responsible for accessibility, on Thursday. “And I believe we are living up to our promises.”
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