Paralympic Games: The desire for change through the Paralympics

Paris has one of the oldest metro networks in the world. Some lines opened more than 120 years ago. At the stations there are often steep stairs leading to the platforms. There are rarely elevators and ramps. Only the new railway line 14 is completely barrier-free. “Paris is like an obstacle course for disabled people,” says wheelchair tennis player Serge Mabilly. “You always need a plan B here.”

The 17th Summer Paralympics begin next Wednesday in Paris, with around 4,400 athletes. Traditionally, disability sports games accelerate a debate about accessibility and participation in the host cities. Twelve million people live with an impairment in France, around 17 percent of the population. What can the Paralympics achieve?

Serge Mabilly is involved as vice-president of the APF France Handicap association for disabled people. He had high hopes for the Paralympics in the French capital. Ultimately, the hosts promised investments of 1.5 billion euros during the application phase: for example in ramps, wheelchair-accessible buses and guidance systems.

But NGOs like APF France Handicap describe implementation as slow and unambitious. Some of them have already demonstrated against the hosts of the Paralympic Games. It is possible that there will be protests again at the games. “Some routes that take ten minutes without a wheelchair take me 40 minutes,” says Serge Mabilly. »Often I can’t even use the bus. Because the bus is already full, couldn’t park properly or the boarding ramp is broken. We have to plan every trip carefully.«

It is probably impossible to make the historic metro completely barrier-free. However, the organizers are promising more buses and taxis suitable for disabled people. Potholes and high curbs on the sidewalks should be eliminated. Shuttle buses will also be available at major train stations during the Paralympics, but a ride must be reserved.

The athletes should not notice much of the problems. They are housed in the Olympic Village of Saint-Denis, where a new district is being built in the north of Paris. “Every apartment in the village has barrier-free bathrooms,” says Karl Quade, the chef de mission for the German Paralympians. “In the long term, these apartments can then be used by disabled people.”

In addition, the French authorities have announced further measures as part of the Paralympics. Public authorities in Paris should make their services more accessible to people with cognitive disabilities. In addition, the education system is being strengthened. “By 2030, at least one barrier-free school in Paris should be accessible in a maximum of fifteen minutes,” says Andrew Parsons, President of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). “We want to prove that the Paralympics can have a positive impact on a city.”

But it took decades for the games to reach this position. In 1996, for example, the organizers in Atlanta had a number of sports facilities dismantled, so that some of the Paralympics had to take place in ruins. In 2008 in Beijing, disabled people were shown on Chinese television for the first time at the Paralympics, but they continue to experience exclusion in China to this day. After all: According to a study, after the London Games in 2012, a third of Brits changed their attitude towards disabilities.

Before the 2016 Summer Games in Rio, the Brazilian government drafted an anti-discrimination law. Two years later, the number of workers with disabilities in Brazil was 50 percent higher than in 2009 – the year Rio won the Games. Nevertheless, disabled people in the favelas are still often unable to leave their homes.

IPC President Parsons says the Paralympics can only be the impetus for a development that could take decades. Tokyo, for example, was already a city with few barriers to local transport before the 2021 Paralympics. Nevertheless, disabled people were rarely seen in the cityscape. “In Japan there was a perception that they needed special protection,” explains Parsons. »But that’s wrong. Disabled people need opportunities to develop. I believe that the Paralympics have changed Japanese society.«

The Paralympics took place once in Germany, in Heidelberg in 1972. The Olympic city of Munich did not want to convert the athletes’ village, but instead wanted to release the apartments to tenants early on. More than 50 years later, German sports associations want to launch another Olympic bid. But how could society benefit from the Paralympics? Jürgen Dusel, the Federal Government Commissioner for the Affairs of People with Disabilities, names sports facilities, swimming pools and schools that are often not barrier-free in Germany: “And in many cities there is also a lack of barrier-free hotel rooms.”

It is realistic that the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Germany will not take place until 2040 at the earliest. However, issues such as a lack of teachers or the lack of cooperation between Olympic and Paralympic clubs could also come into focus during the application phase. Jürgen Dusel doesn’t just want to look at competitive sports either: »People with disabilities do significantly less sport than people without disabilities. And during the pandemic, many rehabilitation sports clubs lost members. The Paralympics could therefore also trigger an important debate in Germany.