The real popular games are the Paralympic Games.

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Eight weeks before the start of the Paralympic Games, Aude Moulin-Delalande, sports manager at APF France handicap, gave an exclusive interview to Ici Beirut. An edifying encounter with a personality who is passionate and committed to the Paralympic Games.

Mrs. Moulin-Delalande, can you introduce us to the‘APF France handicap association and its role during the Ithem Paralympics?

APF France handicap is an association of people with disabilities bringing together them, their families and able-bodied people. She celebrated her 90th birthday last year. It was in 1933 that four young people suffering from poliomyelitis, faced with a society in which nothing was planned or adapted for them, decided to found the association.

Revolted by this exclusion and wanting to break the isolation of people, they designed their own solutions and services, encouraging disabled people to do the same.

Today, we continue their fights. Defending the rights of disabled people and their families, fighting against discrimination and prejudices they are victims of, supporting them on a daily basis in all areas of life (accessibility, education, employment, health, etc.) throughout France, are the DNA of APF France handicap.

Moreover, “Risk the impossible” is the motto of André Trannoy, one of the founders of the association. This motto can absolutely be transposed to sport. Our association campaigns for access to sporting activities for anyone with a disability. Indeed, it is a real vector of well-being and social cohesion. This is why we are strongly involved in the Paris 2024 games: they represent a real opportunity to change the way we view disability and move towards more inclusion. To do this, we offer concrete solutions in this direction. For example, we mobilized 200 workers with disabilities via our network of adapted companies for the PMR shuttle service offered by Île-de-France Mobilités. They will transport spectators with disabilities between Parisian stations and all the Olympic and Paralympic sites. We also have 150 volunteers with disabilities who will participate in the smooth running of the games and around ten members of the association are among the torchbearers who will carry the flame. Finally, APF France handicap supports 4 para-athletes who embody the Olympic dream! (Hélios Latchoumanaya, world number 1 and French number 1 in para-judo, Alexandra Saint-Pierre, world number 2, European number 1 and French number 1 in para-table tennis, Dimitri Jozwicki, 4^e in the 100m at the Tokyo Games, European vice-champion and Sandrine Martinet, flag bearer in Tokyo in 2021, silver medalist in para-judo at the Tokyo Paralympic Games, world champion in 2022, Paralympic champion in 2016). As you can see, we are fully invested in promoting the Paralympic Games to the widest possible audience, not just those with disabilities. I would add that all these sports can be enjoyed at reasonable prices: almost half of the tickets for the general public will be 25 euros or less. Finally, the real popular games are the Paralympic Games. As the para-athletes say, all they need is full stadiums to experience exceptional games!

HAS a few weeks so‘sending of jthem POlympic Games, do you think that Paris is ready for these jthem in matters of‘accessibility?

With just a few weeks to go before the games (people with disabilities also intend to attend the Olympic Games), we can already draw up an initial assessment of accessibility and two positive points should be highlighted: the method used to improve accessibility and the range of services offered to facilitate travel for people with disabilities. We would like to commend this method of more systematic consultation of the stakeholders concerned: this is the case of the user expert group set up by DIJOP (Interministerial Delegation for the Olympic and Paralympic Games) among others, in which we regularly intervene to improve accessibility. For example, members of the association with disabilities tested the route to take to get to the competition venue using different means of transport. This made it possible to anticipate hazards and plan solutions. Another positive example, concerning new facilities such as the Adidas Arena and the Seine-Saint-Denis aquatic centre, some measures have gone beyond the regulations (water fountains accessible to people with reduced mobility in the stadium or dog toilet areas for guide dogs in the aquatic centre). In addition, a number of services have been set up to facilitate the arrival and stay of people with disabilities during the games (adapted shuttles, accessible taxis, available parking spaces, nearby drop-off areas, receptions at airports and train stations, etc.)

Do you have 2 or 3 examples of what works or doesn’t work?

If I had to choose just one, it would be the metro. Indeed, it remains the biggest black spot in terms of accessibility. Only 3% of the Paris metro stations are accessible to wheelchair users, i.e. the 9 stations on line 14 out of 309 stations in total. Only the new stations are accessible (extension of lines 4, 11, 12 and 14), the old ones are not. It is therefore impossible to make a seamless journey on the entire line. This is why we would like to obtain from Île-de-France Mobilités a promise to systematically take into account the accessibility parameter during the renovation work on metro stations. I would like to point out that Paris 2024 is not responsible for the non-implementation of 3 laws in the space of 49 years. It is simply inheriting the inertia of national and local public authorities for decades.

What is your main struggle?‘occasion of these jthem?

I won’t talk about combat, the games are above all a festive and unifying event. They are an opportunity to increase the visibility of disabled people. This change in perspective is also highlighted by 86% of the French people we questioned in a survey with Ifop. They believe that the Paralympic Games will help challenge the stereotypes associated with people with disabilities. Our fight, particularly that of accessibility, will continue once the games are over. We will measure its legacy. Indeed, whatever the outcome, after the games, the accessibility project must continue.

Do you have anything to add for the readers from here Beirut?

What if you came? For 11 days, 4,400 Paralympic athletes, 22 Paralympic sports, 184 Paralympic delegations, 20 Paralympic competition sites will contribute to these first Summer Paralympic Games. The line-up is great, and the promise of excitement too. We’re waiting for you!