Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic volunteer Ndieme Lame, 57, boards a RER train via the ramp with the help of a railway agent during the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France, on Wednesday.
Tom Nouvian/AP
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Tom Nouvian/AP
PARIS — Ndieme Lame has been commuting every day since the start of the Olympic Games to the Stade de France, where she works as a volunteer helping visitors find their way. The 57-year-old wheelchair user marveled at how easy it was to reach the Olympic Stadium via public transport across the city.
“I never believed I could get here almost alone,” she said Wednesday, after a 1.5-hour drive 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. Ramey said an online system that allows her to book assistance at commuter train stations has been particularly helpful.
However, challenges remain, particularly in metro systems where most stations are not fully accessible to wheelchair users. Lame wonders whether train station staff will still be there after the Paralympics, which start two weeks after the Games.
“Right now, people are taking care of us, but after September we’ll be back to the daily struggle,” she said.
On Wednesday, AP reporters accompanied Lame from his home at the Porte de Versailles in southwest Paris to the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of the French capital.
Wearing the teal uniform of a Paris 2024 Olympic volunteer, Lamei, who was diagnosed with polio when she was 11 months old, slid out of the automatic door and took the elevator out to the street. From there, she traveled a short distance on the sidewalk in her electric wheelchair to the nearest tram stop, which she entered via a smooth concrete ramp.
“So far so good,” she said as she joined commuters on the crowded T3 line, which runs along the ring road that separates Paris from its suburbs. Other passengers made room for her wheelchair in the center of the tram.
At the Station of the University Station, transfer to the RER commuter train in Lame. A station employee helped her onto the elevator and took her to the platform. Another man set up a ramp on the platform so she could enter the train.
Ramey said the process, while simple, isn’t always reliable.
“Sometimes the website says the elevator is running, but it turns out it’s not,” she said. This often forced her to take detours, causing significant delays.
On Wednesday, 53 of the 162 elevators in all train and metro stations in the Paris region were undergoing maintenance, according to IDF Mobilité, the regional agency responsible for regulating public transport.
After getting off the train at the Place Saint-Denis station, Lame headed to the Stade de France in a wheelchair.
“I’ve always been afraid of being late,” she said.
At the Stade de France, one of the biggest obstacles faced by people using wheelchairs is accessing the stadium via the Passerelle de l’Ecluse, a pedestrian bridge with stairs to the stadium but no lift.
Hugues Valet, 26, an aspiring paratriathlete who lost his legs after a car accident, was surprised when he and his cousin arrived at the stadium to watch the race. An assistant helps him up the stairs.
“When I saw those stairs from a distance, I got very frustrated and told my little cousin that we had to turn around and take a detour to find another entrance,” the valet said. “I was so surprised by the care we received.”
International Paralympic Committee president Andrew Parsons praised the city’s efforts to make above-ground transportation more accessible, but noted that many people are frustrated with other parts of the public transportation system, especially the century-old A historic subway system where 93% of stations are still inaccessible or only partially accessible to wheelchair users.
“When Paris was building its metro system more than a century ago, people with disabilities were absolutely marginalized and treated as second-class citizens,” Parsons said. “I understand the level of frustration, but I want to see the glass half full and think about where we have been, where we are now and where we will be.”
When the Paralympics kick off on August 28, the focus in Paris will be not just on the athletes, but on the city itself – its triumphs in accessibility, and the gaps that still need to be bridged.
Since winning the right to host the 2017 Summer Olympics, Paris has invested heavily in improving accessibility. billion to further these efforts. The city has also invested in the creation of 17 “barrier-free zones” where public facilities and shops are equipped with ramps, tactile strips and parking spaces designed for people with disabilities.
“The idea is to fundamentally change the city,” Lamia El Aaraje, Paris’ deputy mayor for accessibility, said Thursday. “I think we’re delivering on our promise.”
