There are these little things that are not immediately obvious — the positioning of this socket, the height of this switch, the size of this hallway… — but which change a lot of things for a person with a disability. One year before the Paralympic Games, which will take place from August 28 to September 8, 2024, the finish line is approaching for the workers busy building the future Olympic village – which will therefore also be Paralympic. The work carried out on the banks of the Seine, between Saint-Ouen and Saint-Denis, should be completed by the end of the year.
If 14,500 beds will be needed during the Olympics, then 9,000 beds will be provided for para-athletes, fewer in number but who can be accompanied by caregivers. If the accommodation provided in L’Île-Saint-Denis during the Olympic Games will therefore not be used during the JP, another Paralympic mini-village will welcome delegations to the national shooting center in Châteauroux (Indre).
Tactile and sound orientation tables
Do not look, however, for differences with the accommodation that will accommodate the athletes of the Olympic Games. “The dimension of accessibility was taken into account throughout the Paris 2024 project: we never said to ourselves that we were going to have a project for the Olympic Games and another for the Paralympics which should provide for facilities specific, specifies Ludivine Munos, former Paralympic swimmer, triple gold medalist and now responsible for Paralympic integration at Paris 2024. This is why the same emblematic places will be used, she continues. And they will give a fantastic image of competitions, such as blind football at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, wheelchair fencing at the Grand Palais…”
In Seine-Saint-Denis, the village will be transformed, after the Games, into a district with 6,000 inhabitants and as many employees. Inclusion will first be played out in the public space, with benches having, for example, solid armrests for people who have difficulty sitting down or getting up, and which can be found all maximum 50m. In the district, the orientation tables will be tactile and sound, while systems on the ground will alert of dangers.
Plans adapted to people with mental disabilities
Attention to people with disabilities will even go… to the color of the buildings, which have enabled the creation of plans adapted to people with mental disabilities. “By working with associations, they told us that talking about a green building or a pink building can help people who have trouble finding their way around”, explained at the beginning of August Julia Watson, the village’s deputy director for Solideo (a construction company). delivery of the Olympic works).
She then attended the laying of the first sections of a helicoidal ramp, 100 m long and accessible to all people with reduced mobility, on the future Olympic square. During the Games, a partnership was also established with Toyota for the installation of shuttles which will run permanently in the village. Other more individual systems will also be offered, such as electric wheelchairs or an electric scooter that can be integrated under a wheelchair.
Visual of the future helical ramp fitted at the level of the Olympic square in Saint-Denis. Solideo
The village will also achieve 100% accessible housing (when the law only imposes a threshold of 20%). A model apartment was open for a press visit on August 24. “What we can observe is that the accommodations all benefit from larger than normal surfaces, such as this double bedroom, which is 11.6 square meters in size,” says Marion Leturque, program director at Vinci Immobilier. . In this bathroom, we also discover a basin without its furniture. “This allows people in wheelchairs to easily access it,” notes the manager.
The bathroom of a model apartment in the future Olympic Village. LP/Enzo Sultan
The visit continues: all the showers will be without projection, and the shape of the mattresses “adapted on a case-by-case basis according to the requests of the delegations”, specifies the Solideo. The spacing of the doors is 90 cm, that of the corridors reaches 150 cm, allowing armchairs to cross. “It’s very important, especially in the event that it is necessary to evacuate the premises quickly”, observes Laurent Lejard, journalist specializing in disability, who moves himself in a wheelchair and who was able to attend the visit.
He was, moreover, not totally convinced: “Already, the apartments are completely white: the walls, the ceilings, the floors… So a visually impaired person will find himself in the fog, he believes. Then, the shower we visited is not suitable for a paralyzed person, because the grab bar is located at the back of the alcove and will therefore be unusable…”
“We know that everything is not yet perfect”
“There are still elements that will be worked on and that need to evolve,” replies Pierre-Antoine Leyrat, accessibility project manager at Solideo. We know that everything is not yet perfect, but we are constantly looking for suitable solutions. Every quarter, the organizing committee brings together 115 associations specializing in accessibility to present the planned systems, while two groups of “usage experts”, each made up of 12 people with disabilities who come to check the planned facilities.
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