Franck’s journey to wheelchair access the Paralympic Games opening ceremony

Far from the promises of accessibility, Franck Maille, former Paralympic medallist and member of APF France Handicap, took 2.5 hours from Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine) to reach his place in the stands for the opening ceremony.

“It’s hell.” After more than two hours of travel, Franck Maille began to fear that he would not arrive in time for the opening ceremony on Wednesday, August 28. The accessibility representative at APF France Handicap had nevertheless taken precautions: he left his home, from Nanterre in Hauts-de-Seine, at 4:45 p.m., more than three hours before the start of the festivities planned on the Place de la Concorde, at 8 p.m.

“We will pay special attention to people with disabilities” during the Paralympic Games, promised Valérie Pécresse, president of the region and of Ile-de-France Mobilités, during a press briefing on Monday. But Franck’s obstacle course shows that there is still a long way to go.

It is a little after 4:30 p.m. when Franck comes down from his apartment located a few minutes by wheelchair from the Nanterre-Préfecture RER station. This former medalist in para-swimming at the 1988 Paralympic Games in Seoul lights a cigarette and checks one last time the routes recommended by the “Paris 2024: Public Transport” application. He has given up on reserving a seat on one of the 100 minibuses provided by Ile-de-France Mobilités for people with disabilities, because he had waited more than two hours during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. So this time he is counting on public transport.

“The Paris 2024 application is well done”he concedes, checking the “wheelchair traveler” option. He is then offered two 50-minute journeys via the RER A to reach entrance 6 of Place de la Concorde, which is on the Seine side: either he changes at the Auber station before taking the 68 bus, or he changes at the Châtelet station for line 14 towards Pyramides. Franck chooses the first option, the one that theoretically guarantees him the least effort.

Suffering from Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a degenerative condition that affects the peripheral nerves, the 53-year-old admits “anguish” by the journey ahead. A bad intuition. He hesitated for a long time between his new electric chair and his manual chair. He finally opted for the second solution, more tiring, but less risky. “My electric chair only has a range of 18 kilometers. The manual chair is still more maneuverable, even if my arms hurt.”

Everything goes well at first, even if you have to wait a little in front of the elevators: “There is a time limit to prevent everyone from using them, but people still take them and as a result, we are wasting time.” Once you arrive at the RER control gates, you must report to the ticket office and announce your destination to check that the elevators are in working order upon arrival. You sometimes have to wait a long time and you can’t be unlucky.

“This morning, the elevator at Madeleine station was broken, for example.”says Franck. Once on the RER platform, Thanks to a new elevator, an agent helps people in wheelchairs to get to the front of the train, by installing a removable ramp. “The RER is therefore not accessible, because we are obliged to ask for support. Accessibility means autonomy, it means going from point A to point B, without any obstacles.”notes Franck.

“I hope that the Paralympics will be an accelerator for accessibility, an awareness, because today, it is much too slow.”

Franck Maille, member of APF France Handicap

to franceinfo

When Valérie Pécresse assures that all the Paralympic sites are “100% accessible”Franck gets annoyed. “There is theory and practice. We don’t have the same notion of accessibility. We see that she has never sat in a wheelchair.”he fumes. He dreams of being able to take the RER A without having to ask for help, like on the tram or line 14. When you get to the Auber station, you have to go back up the entire platform to get to the elevator.

On the upper floor, he starts looking for a new elevator to take him up another level. “And there we see the signage problems. I almost missed it… Why don’t they put something on the ground?”, he wonders. An elevator and a freight elevator later, Franck finally finds himself on the street looking for the bus station. The application directs him to rue Scribe and he then arrives in front of an RATP agent in a purple vest who pronounces the sentence: “Line 68 doesn’t run here, everything is cut off because of the opening ceremony.”

The screen confirms that the stop is “not served”, contrary to the recommendations of the Paris 2024 application. Contacted by franceinfo, Ile-de-France Mobilités apologizes: “There have been recent changes to bus traffic perimeters. We are doing everything possible to quickly integrate the changes.”

For his part, Franck decides to try his luck via entrance 1 to the north of the Concorde site and to force his arms to get there as quickly as possible. He then has to face the crowd, the sometimes narrow streets, the climbs, the cobblestones, the holes in the road and the pavements without lowering. The walk turns into an often dangerous journey. “You have to keep your eyes everywhere, the wheels can get stuck in holes and at full speed, you can tip overhe explains. There are pitfalls.”