The French capital has tried to improve accessibility for people with disabilities ahead of the Olympics and Paralympics. Challenges remain, however, particularly in the underground Metro system.
Since the start of the Olympics, Ndieme Lame has been commuting every day to the Stade de France where she works as a volunteer helping visitors find their way. The 57-year-old wheelchair user is in awe at how easy it’s been to cross the city on public transit to reach the Olympic stadium.
“I never would have believed I could make it here almost on my own,” she said Wednesday after her 1 1/2-hour commute from her home in southern Paris.
Her daily journey highlights the city’s efforts to improve accessibility for people with disabilities ahead of the Olympics and Paralympics. Lame said an online system that lets her book assistance at commuter train stations has been particularly helpful.
Challenges remain, however, particularly in the underground Metro system where most stations are not fully accessible to people in wheelchairs. And Lame wonders whether the train station assistants will still be there after the Paralympics, which start just over two weeks after the Olympics end.
“Right now, people are taking care of us, but after September, it will be back to the everyday struggle,” she said.
On Wednesday, AP journalists accompanied Lame on her commute from her home in Porte de Versailles, in southwestern Paris, to the Stade de France in Saint Denis, in the northern suburbs of the French capital.
Wearing the teal-coloured attire of the Paris 2024 volunteers, Lame, who was diagnosed with polio when she was 11 months old, glided out the automatic door and took the elevator down to the street. From there, a short ride on the sidewalk in her motorized wheelchair took her to the nearest tram station, which she accessed on a smooth concrete ramp.
