The Republic’s high places are still too poorly adapted for disabled people

As the Olympic and Paralympic Games begin in Paris, official buildings remain largely unsuitable for people with disabilities.

The Elysée is taking advantage of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games to finally make progress in terms of accessibility. The steps will now be flanked by real ramps for disabled people and not just removable ramps. Work began on Tuesday, July 23.

These are not just any ramps. They are made by the Franco-Argentine artist Pablo Reinoso. He is also the one who created benches installed, since 2016, on each side of the terrace of the Elysée, garden side. This time, the work will be visible from the main courtyard and useful. A real step forward judges Sébastien Peytavie, ecologist deputy of Dordogne: “When the Elysée Palace organizes the national conference on disability, they install a ramp and that’s it!” In other words, before this work, the Elysée only made efforts during this event, every three years.

The lack of accessibility of the high places of the Republic, the deputy of Dordogne experienced it again no later than last week. On July 18, in the hemicycle, the deputies must vote for the presidency of the National Assembly except that Sébastien Peytavie, in a wheelchair, cannot reach the ballot boxes placed on the platform: “The symbolic part is quite disastrous.”

It is only in the third round, with the authorisation of the presidency, that one of the ushers will lower one of the ballot boxes so that the member in the wheelchair can slip in his or her ballot paper, like the others: “Installing the ballot boxes downstairs and having all the MPs go downstairs to vote was absolutely not complicated and it costs nothing. But we see that, in this, the weight of symbolism weighs more than the inclusive side.” The National Assembly, the Senate, the Economic and Social Council: so many palaces of the Republic which, according to Sebastien Peytavie, need work.

But accessibility also involves other developments. At the National Assembly, the blind deputy of Aisne, José Beaurain, will soon come with his dog. Synonymous, for him, with greater autonomy within the Palais Bourbon: “When I have the guide dog, a few weeks of practice and it will go smoothly. I will see how I will organize myself with the administration of the National Assembly. I think the dog will stay outside the hemicycle. But as soon as I leave the hemicycle to go from the 4 columns to Chaban-Delmas or to go to the administrative buildings, I will have an ease and speed of movement incomparable with my current movement with the white cane.” In the meantime, José Beaurain emphasizes that the kindness and attention of the ushers and his parliamentary colleagues allow him to overcome many difficulties.