100 days before the Paralympic Games, the hope of people with disabilities

The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games are an opportunity to question the place of disability in our society.

The Paris Paralympic Games will kick off in exactly 100 days. A symbolic countdown as France will host this competition for the first time. Well beyond the simple sporting feat, the challenge of these Paralympics is to question the place of disability in our society. Even if ticket sales are struggling for the moment, these games raise a lot of hope among people with disabilities.

Eleven days of competition, eleven days to show the whole world that disabled people can also achieve great things. This is Linda’s hope, this blind fifty-year-old has been swimming since she was little: “Disabled sport also means showing the general public that disabled people get out of their homes, that they can have hobbies, ambitions, goals…”

Medals, exploits but not only that. These Paralympic Games must question our society, insists Viknesh, visually impaired and disabled consultant in the association “Support, promote and integrate the visually impaired” : “We must take advantage of this opportunity to do everything necessary in terms of accessibility, in terms of transport, in terms of work. Ensure that people with disabilities feel concerned afterwards , for example, through practice.”

Despite everything, there is one reality: at the last count, the vast majority of the 2,800,000 tickets have not been sold. This is a problem, Viknesh admits: “The ideal would be to put the Paralympic Games before the Olympic Games. Unfortunately for the vast majority of people, when there is the closing ceremony, it means that the Games are over.” On the organizational side, we just hope to live up to London in 2012, which is a real benchmark in terms of Paralympism. The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games will take place from August 28 to September 8 with a French delegation which will include 240 athletes.