CW: Injury
Most spectators at the 2024 Paralympic Games spent roughly 30 minutes traveling between a wheelchair tennis match at Roland Garros Stadium and a wheelchair rugby game at Champ-de-Mars Arena. But for Anna Landre, it took three times as long because she uses a wheelchair and is unable to use the majority of the city’s Métro system.
Landre was in Paris for the Paralympic Games. Like others, navigating Paris was a challenge for Landre. “Over the last week I’ve been here, I’ve gone through stages: At first I was like, this is excellent given the constraints of the city of Paris. Then I started having issues,” Landre told The Washington Post.
In preparation for the Paralympics, which ended yesterday, France spent over $1.66 billion to improve public places; all bus and tram routes and stations are now wheelchair accessible. However, only 29 of Paris’ more than 300 Métro stations are wheelchair accessible.
Landre’s accessibility concerns at the Paralympics began with the August 28 Opening Ceremonies. She discovered that the wheelchair viewing platform was blocked by non-disabled spectators at a community viewing spot in the city’s northeast.
Outside Roland Garros, where a wheelchair tennis championship was taking place, Landre used her phone to find a bus stop through some sidewalks that were just large enough for her wheelchair. She was going to the wheelchair rugby game.
When the bus arrived and dropped its ramp, Landre boarded effortlessly. She prefers the buses in Paris to those in London since they have more than one seat for a wheelchair user. Fourteen stops later, Landre used a specific button to notify the bus driver that a wheelchair user wanted to leave.
Typically, the driver allows non-disabled passengers to exit first, then closes the doors, lowers the ramp (which emerges from beneath the bus), and reopens the door for wheelchair users to leave. Landre waited calmly as the others exited the bus. The doors closed. Landre looked at the driver expectantly, but he did not lower the ramp. The bus took off, trapping her.
Landre pressed the button twice before proceeding to the next stop. Once again, the bus driver failed to lower the ramp. She began shouting in French, “Le ramp, s’il vous plaît! (The ramp, please!),” but the driver did not hear her. Finally, another woman joined Landre in shouting, and the driver lowered the ramp, allowing her to exit at the wrong stop.
Fortunately, the driver’s error only cost Landre five minutes. She arrived at the wheelchair rugby stadium after another 20-minute drive in her power wheelchair, which was rather smooth on sidewalks.
At another event, at the Stade de France, a volunteer informed Landre that there were no elevators. It forced her to utilize an electric stair lift. The device relies on a non-disabled volunteer to carefully pull someone in a wheelchair up the steps.
After seeing the video Landre posted online, I commented “Just looking at the video makes me shudder. Give me a working elevator please!” As a wheelchair user myself, devices like these are scary, particularly because you have to rely on a stranger to assist you.
Later, Landre discovered there were elevators in the stadium. Despite the incident, she praised the Paralympics volunteers as “great” and was impressed. A Paris 2024 representative stated in an email that the incident was “regrettable,” and that all Paris 2024 volunteers had undergone training on how to welcome disabled people.
Other people also faced challenges when navigating Paris. Sarah Kane, a 23-year-old legally blind American student at Cambridge University in England, said she had been navigating Paris with a white cane because bringing her guide dog was too expensive.
Kane attempted to take the Métro to travel to a wheelchair fencing match. A friend led her to the platform, where station employees informed her that there would be employees at the next stop to assist her.
However, when Kane arrived at the Franklin D. Roosevelt station, she was unable to get help. Kane, who does not speak French, eventually met a stranger who helped her. The entire trip took one hour.
Spectators aren’t the only ones who have faced challenges when it comes to the Paralympics. Athletes are faced with similar challenges.
In 2021, Becca Meyers opted not to compete in Paralympic Games in Japan. Meyers is both deaf and blind due to a condition called Usher Syndrome. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, she was unable to bring a Personal Care Assistant or PCA with her.
The same year a self-driving bus hit an athlete. Luckily, the athlete only suffered minor injuries. Following the incident, Toyota apologized for the “overconfidence” of a self-driving bus.
For athletes and spectators alike, attending the Paralympic Games is an incredible opportunity. Unfortunately, for an event like the Paralympic Games to be mired in accessibility controversies is not surprising. Hopefully, in 2028, officials will learn from their past mistakes.
Sources:
Chappell, Bill. “Deaf-Blind Athlete Quits Team USA After She’s Told She Can’t Bring A Care Assistant.” NPR, NPR, 20 July 2021, http://www.npr.org/sections/tokyo-olympics-live-updates/2021/07/20/1018307082/deaf-and-blind-swimmer-quits-team-usa-over-personal-aid-issue.
MacInnes, Paul. “Toyota Pauses Paralympics Self-Driving Buses after One Hits Visually Impaired Athlete.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 28 Aug. 2021, http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/aug/28/toyota-pauses-paralympics-self-driving-buses-after-one-hits-visually-impaired-athlete.
Morris, Amanda, and Roman Stubbs. “Paralympics Celebrate Disability, but in Paris, Access Was Hit-or-Miss – The Washington Post.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 6 Sept. 2024, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2024/09/06/paralympics-disability-wheelchair-access-paris/.