2023-10-08 13:46:01
On the eve of the opening of the ticket office for the Olympic Games, a major day of Paralympic sport is taking place this Sunday, October 8, in the capital. For its second edition, Paralympic Day takes over Place de la République, which is transformed into an arena for Paralympic sports.
It’s the big day for Paralympic sport today in Paris, on the eve of the opening of ticketing for the 2024 Olympic Games, in less than a year. You can attend demonstrations on Place de la République, for example. So on the one hand, there is this spotlight, these events, but in everyday life, there are also the difficulties of moving, of learning, of working. Decryption with sociologist Jean Viard.
franceinfo: How can these differences be explained?
Jean Viard: First of all, these Paralympic Games are something magnificent. That is to say, realizing that for people who have lost an arm, a leg, their life is not over. We can rebuild our lives if we are supported, helped, with disabilities of this type, or even childhood disabilities, autism phenomena, etc. When we support people, we don’t heal ourselves completely, but we can have a life.
After me, what strikes me about this country: when you go to the Scandinavian countries, you have the impression that they have all fallen off their bikes, because there are guys with chairs on wheels everywhere. But no, there are no more disabled people than here. Except that they go out, except that their houses, their cities, their streets are made so that they are in public space. Traditionally, we hardly see any disabled people. But it is also true for the elderly, for mothers with strollers.
So, it’s really a question, there are fragile people in this society. There are in particular the disabled, there are a million and a half disabled people receiving compensation, but there are many more disabled people than that, people who are hampered, including, obviously, the aging of the population, who are people who have mobility problems. And so the question is: how will this society accept that those who are not young, strong, and healthy are also part of society.
A social subject as much as a health subject, however, disabled people often say that they have the feeling of not being of interest to politicians. Is this a justified feeling, in your opinion?
The State can produce standards, for example the standards we have adopted for housing. Now all bathrooms must be open to the disabled, those who roll in trailer chairs to enter the bathroom. There was debate. Should it be imposed on all housing or should it only be imposed on the ground floors, to try to ensure that it does not increase housing prices? Because with the housing crisis, by dint of producing very positive standards, we are causing prices to explode, we are no longer building. So the question is complicated.
In the cities, it’s the same. I was elected in Marseille, there was only one station, where there was an elevator to get off. It’s no use, obviously. But when we built the metro, 30 or 40 years ago, we didn’t think about elevators. So the State tends to produce standards. So, there are some that have been put in place: often the sidewalks, there is a place to pass with a stroller, a wheelchair, we have lowered the sidewalk in front of the red light and the pedestrian crossing. Often at the entrance to public services, town halls, post offices, etc. You have disabled access, so we can’t say we didn’t do anything.
But the problem is that it costs absolutely astronomical sums, because as it is not integrated into the built environment, it is extremely expensive. Producing standards in the bedroom is quite easy. Finding the funding to make them happen is extremely complicated. I don’t believe that the public authorities are not interested in it. But I think that often afterwards, when you’re at the point of decision-making, it’s a question of budget. You have to take the economy into account. It’s not shameful to say that. But at the same time, how do we make decisions that are applicable?
In your opinion, despite everything, are these Paralympic Games an opportunity to advance inclusion in society, and also the daily life of people with disabilities?
The living conditions, I don’t know, but the fact of giving them a global place, of promoting them with competitions, there are people who will attend these Games, I think that it is a profoundly humanist gesture , and you know, solidarity with the weakest often begins with looking and speaking.
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