Ndieme Lame, a 57-year-old volunteer for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Video games navigates a ramp to hitch a RER prepare with the assistance of rail brokers, throughout the 2024 Summer time Olympics, on Wednesday in Paris, France.
Tom Nouvian/AP
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Tom Nouvian/AP
PARIS — For the reason that begin of the Olympics, Ndieme Lame has been commuting day by day to the Stade de France the place she works as a volunteer serving to guests discover their manner. The 57-year-old wheelchair consumer is in awe at how simple it has been to cross town on public transit to succeed in the Olympic stadium.
“I never would have believed I could make it here almost on my own,” she stated Wednesday after her 1 1/2-hour commute from her residence in southern Paris.
Her every day journey highlights town’s efforts to enhance accessibility for individuals with disabilities forward of the Olympics and Paralympics. Lame stated a web-based system that lets her e book help at commuter prepare stations has been significantly useful.
Challenges stay, nevertheless, significantly within the underground Metro system the place most stations aren’t totally accessible to individuals in wheelchairs. And Lame wonders whether or not the prepare station assistants will nonetheless be there after the Paralympics, which begin simply over two weeks after the Olympics finish.
“Right now, people are taking care of us, but after September, it will be back to the everyday struggle,” she stated.
On Wednesday, AP journalists accompanied Lame on her commute from her residence in Porte de Versailles, in southwestern Paris, to the Stade de France in Saint Denis, within the northern suburbs of the French capital.
Sporting the teal-coloured apparel of the Paris 2024 volunteers, Lame, who was recognized with polio when she was 11 months outdated, glided out the automated door and took the elevator right down to the road. From there, a brief experience on the sidewalk in her motorized wheelchair took her to the closest tram station, which she accessed on a easy concrete ramp.
“So far so good,” she stated as she joined the commuters on the crowded T3 line, which runs alongside the Périphérique, the freeway ring separating Paris from its outskirts. Different passengers made room for her wheelchair within the middle of the tram automotive.
At Cité-Universitaire prepare station, Lame transferred to an RER commuter prepare. A station assistant helped her entry an elevator that introduced her to the platform. One other positioned a ramp on the platform that allowed her to enter the prepare.
The method, whereas simple, isn’t at all times dependable, Lame stated.
“Sometimes the websites say that the elevator is running and it turns out that it is not,” she stated. This repeatedly forces her to make detours, leading to vital delays.
On Wednesday, 53 out of the 162 lifts in all prepare and Metro stations within the Paris area had been beneath upkeep, in keeping with IDF Mobilité, the regional physique overseeing public transit.
After exiting the prepare on the Plaine Saint-Denis station, Lame made her technique to the Stade de France in her wheelchair.
“I was afraid of running late the entire time,” she stated.
On the Stade de France, one of many largest obstacles for individuals utilizing wheelchairs is accessing the stadium on the Passerelle de l’Ecluse, a pedestrian bridge with stairs main as much as it however no elevator.
Hugues Valet, a 26-year-old aspiring para-triathlete who misplaced using his legs after a automotive accident, was stunned to seek out an assistant available to assist him up the steps as he and his cousin arrived on the stadium to observe the observe competitors.
“When I saw those stairs from afar, I was pretty upset and told my little cousin that we will have to turn around and make a huge detour to find another entry point,” Valet stated. “I’m pretty stunned at how we’re being taken care of.”
Andrew Parsons, president of the Worldwide Paralympic Committee, praised town’s efforts to make overground transport extra accessible, however famous the frustration that many really feel relating to different components of the general public transit system, significantly the century-old Metro system wherein 93% of stations stay inaccessible or solely partially accessible to individuals in wheelchairs.
“When the Metro system was built in Paris more than a century ago, people with disabilities were absolutely marginalized and considered second-class citizens,” Parsons stated. “I understand the degree of frustration, but I’d like to see the glass half full and think about where we were, where we are and where we are going to be.”
When the Paralympics start on Aug. 28, the highlight on Paris is not going to solely be on the athletes but additionally on town itself—its triumphs in accessibility, and the gaps that also want bridging.
Paris has made vital investments to enhance accessibility since successful the bid to host the Summer time Video games in 2017. The town boasts that 100% of its bus routes and tram strains at the moment are wheelchair accessible, and 125 million euros have been allotted to additional these efforts. The town corridor has additionally invested within the creation of 17 “enhanced accessibility districts” wherein public amenities and outlets are tailored with ramps, tactile strips and designated parking spots for individuals with disabilities.
“The idea was to radically transform the city,” Lamia El Aaraje, deputy mayor of Paris in command of accessibility, stated on Thursday. “And I believe we’re delivering on our promise.”
