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Video duration: 5 min
VIDEO. Disability: the difficulty of getting around in a wheelchair persists in Paris
Since her accident in 2018, Virginie has been using a wheelchair in Paris. Brut followed her for the duration of a journey between her home and the convenience store where she does her shopping, a street away. Cobblestones, obstacles on the sidewalks, unsuitable stairs… Every move the young woman makes is fraught with pitfalls.
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Since her accident in 2018, Virginie has been using a wheelchair in Paris. Brut followed her for the duration of a journey between her home and the convenience store where she does her shopping, a street away. Cobblestones, obstacles on the sidewalks, unsuitable stairs… Every move the young woman makes is fraught with pitfalls.
“In April 2018, I went backpacking around South America for six months, all alone. I took a surf lesson which went badly. And since then, I have been an incomplete quadriplegic. This means that my spinal cord was affected at the cervical level”. Since then, Virginie, who lives in Paris, has been using a wheelchair. “dog droppings”, sidewalks “not lowered enough”, trash cans left in the middle of the sidewalk… Each time she goes out, she has to deal with new obstacles. “I always need to call on someone, whether it’s to enter a store, to push a bike or a trash can. I can rarely be independent” declares the young woman. It also cannot access a certain number of old buildings or buildings which have a “small walk” impassable in a wheelchair. “I have quite a few friends who live in this type of building that I can’t go see, unless they have to go down, but independently, I can’t go there..”
“What makes me feel most handicapped is the environment that is not adapted”
When she goes out for a drink in a bar, it is also very common for the toilets to be “in the basement and without elevator, so impossible to go there” explains Virginie. “What’s exhausting is having to constantly check everything so as not to fall, so as not to slip on the road. The thing that would make our lives the most easier is to give us a boost in terms of access, the way people look at us and reduce incivility in the street. We still see too much of it. So by trying to be a little empathetic, it would make our lives a lot easier” affirms the young woman who cites in particular poorly parked bicycles, trash cans left in the middle of the sidewalk, dog droppings not picked up or even occupied disabled parking spaces “without having the card”. “Today, my disability is what it is, I’m in a wheelchair, OK, but ultimately, what makes me feel most disabled is the environment which is not adapted. This is honestly the hardest part.” confides Virginie.
