Legacy of 2024 Paralympics: Realisation of all that needs to be done to make Paris 'more accessible'

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00:00Let's speak to Gemma Stevenson, a wheelchair tennis player and sports journalist.

00:08She's in Paris.

00:09Thanks so much for joining us on the programme, Gemma, on World Roundup.

00:14It's great to have you.

00:15Now, you're a world champion, you know exactly what it's like to compete on the world's stage.

00:20I can imagine you know exactly what the athletes are feeling like right now with just one day

00:24to go until the Paralympics.

00:27Yeah, I mean, I'm a world champion in cheerleading, so adaptive cheerleading, so I used to cheerlead

00:34in my wheelchair.

00:35And I'd go to the World Championships in Orlando.

00:39And yes, it was in Disneyland, because everybody always asks.

00:43And yeah, it's the night, it's the night before the competition starts, it's the night before

00:47the opening ceremony.

00:48So you're naturally doing everything you can to kind of celebrate what's about to happen.

00:55But also, you've got to keep to like nutrition plans and eating the right stuff and having

01:01enough sleep, which is quite hard, actually, when you're at a big event like the Paralympics,

01:06like I was at the World Championships over in Orlando.

01:11It's really, you've really got to keep focused, because there's so much going on around you.

01:17It's very, it's very distracting, or it can be very distracting.

01:21Gemma, of course, mobility and accessibility is a big part of these games.

01:26You know, Paris's metro system is over 100 years old.

01:29The head of the regional transport system here in Paris admitted yesterday that the

01:33metro is near impossible for disabled people to navigate.

01:38I think you're in Paris right now.

01:39How's it been for you getting around?

01:42It's been interesting.

01:43So I'm here working as media at the minute.

01:47We have media transport, but there just seems to be a lack of awareness of where you can

01:54open a bus door and let a ramp out.

01:57So today, for example, when I was traveling this morning, a bus driver let a ramp out

02:04right in front of a tree and then wondered why it took me ages to try and get in.

02:11That's quite shocking.

02:13We've also had the president of the Île-de-France region, Valérie Pacres, speak on this issue.

02:18Let's take a listen to what she had to say.

02:24We still have to make the 13 historic lines within Paris accessible.

02:29So let's not kid ourselves.

02:31Even if we were to implement a major accessibility plan, there will still potentially be technical

02:36impossibilities in some stations.

02:43This could be the project of the next few decades.

02:46And I'm going to tell you, I think it's a winning bet.

02:52It's a winning bet because as people live longer, disability is going to become a major

02:56issue.

02:57It will affect the whole population.

02:59It won't just be people who have had an accident.

03:02It will be the population who at some point will find themselves with reduced mobility.

03:08So Gemma, Pacres saying there that making the metro accessible is a project that could

03:12take decades to materialise.

03:15Can you lay out for us what kind of impact having such an inaccessible metro will have

03:20during these games?

03:22I think it'll be interesting to see how spectators and media and those involved with the games

03:30get around.

03:31I know the athletes, it's quite accessible for them to get to the places they need to

03:35get to.

03:36They have specific athlete transport as well.

03:39I think you're probably going to find a lot of frustration.

03:43Often as a disabled person, if you haven't got the access that you require, we all admit

03:48that nothing's going to be perfect.

03:50Like your minister said, nothing's going to be perfect.

03:53There are still going to be challenges.

03:55It's just the, is there, could more have been done before now?

04:02But I will say that the one thing that kept a smile on my face today is the one thing

04:07that often makes a Paralympic Games, which is those volunteers that stand there.

04:14And I mean, I'm quite calm and I just say, is there any easier way to do it?

04:18But I do know that they probably put up with some lovely words from other people.

04:25And they just sit there with a smile on their face and try and find a solution to adapt.

04:30And I think that's the thing, like I was in the, I actually performed in the opening ceremony

04:34of London 2012.

04:36And I went down to a lot, you know, 12 years ago, I went down to watch a lot of the sport.

04:40And what made those games a lot of the time was those volunteers who were greeting people

04:45at venues or on transport or at hotels.

04:50And being that face that people could see every day.

04:52And I think actually from my first two days in Paris, that's what I've really noticed.

04:57The volunteers are amazing and they are so brilliant.

05:03And I think they are going to be what makes the difference at Paris 2024.

05:07I think the volunteers have definitely been the heroes during these games.

05:13Let's pretend that the Paralympics have happened now.

05:15What sort of legacy do you think the Games will leave behind?

05:19I think it's less of a legacy like London was, where we tried to make London more accessible

05:24for the Games.

05:25I think it's maybe a legacy of realising that Paris isn't as accessible as it should be.

05:33And maybe taking action forward from that.

05:36You know, I've been, I've seen one of my friends was here and they're also a wheelchair user.

05:40And they said actually, for the first time being in Paris, they had a restaurant manager

05:45come forward to them and say, I'm really sorry, we realise we haven't got a ramp and we're

05:50not accessible, but we're working on it, we promise.

05:55So it's maybe that the legacy is that realisation of what actually needs to be done for, to

06:02make the city more accessible, to make the metro more accessible, to avoid those really

06:07long bus journeys that you have to take as a wheelchair user, that sometimes take somebody

06:11who's not a wheelchair user, you know, only 20 minutes to do.

06:15Hopefully it does usher in some change.

06:18Gemma, tell us what you're looking forward to seeing the most during the Paralympics.

06:22I'm guessing tennis is somewhere up there.

06:25Oh, yeah, tennis is going to figure high up.

06:27But I think I come here every year to report on Roland Garros.

06:30And what I love about the atmosphere at Roland Garros is how the French fans get behind the

06:35French athletes.

06:38They are really, really passionate about their athletes.

06:42And I actually love it when a British player plays a French player at Roland Garros, because

06:47you know, the atmosphere is going to be like 100 percent brilliant.

06:51And I'm hoping we're going to get some of those as well, because they really do.

06:55You know, I don't know how much the crowd realise, but you are kind of the extra player

07:00on court and you can influence a match just by getting behind athletes.

07:05For sure. I think, yeah, the athletes definitely feed off the atmosphere in stadiums.

07:10Gemma, I want to thank you so much for joining us here on World Roundup.

07:13We really appreciate you joining us.

07:16So that's Gemma Stevenson, a wheelchair tennis player and sports journalist there.

07:20Thanks so much for watching. Do stay tuned.

07:22There's plenty more to come here on France 24.

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