One year on, delivering on the legacy of the Paralympic Games

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Because we believe that the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games will only be truly useful if they support changes in people's lives. Because we believe that universal accessibility is a condition for living together. Because we affirm that this is how we build a Republic, we are choosing in Paris, with Anne Hidalgo and our left-wing majority, to continue the legacy of the Games.

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Ahead of the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Paris faces the immense challenge of accessibility

Looking back on what happened a year ago, it's like being moved once again by the emotions and energy our city experienced in hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games. First, it was sport and the great athletes who thrilled the city: Léon Marchand and the Portal brothers in swimming, Aurélie Aubert and her boccia title, the French blind football team winning the gold medal in a packed stadium in front of the Eiffel Tower, the BMX hat trick... These emotions gave way to the responsibility of continuing this momentum.

During the Games, Paris was transformed and continues to transform. The event was an accelerator in making the capital more accessible: 100% of bus lines can now accommodate all audiences, and 17 enhanced accessibility neighborhoods, one per arrondissement, have been created. These are routes designed for everyone, with public facilities, roads, and municipal services accessible without conditions. Finally, 96% of municipal facilities will be accessible by 2026, including our schools: every Parisian child will be able to benefit from an establishment adapted to their situation within ten minutes of their home.

But we didn't stop there. We designed universal accessibility as a lever for real equality, even though disability is the primary reason for discrimination, according to the Defender of Rights. Concretely, we implemented adapted vacations for children with disabilities, who are too often excluded from the right to leave and time off; 33 specialized teaching units to enable schooling adapted to the needs of all children; enhanced training for municipal agents so that reception and support meet accessibility requirements; communications in Easy to Read and Understand; and the development of parasport with the Network of Parawelcoming Clubs, which now allows more than 1,500 people to practice an adapted sporting activity.

So, as we head back to school with the municipal elections of March 2026 , the left will have to put accessibility at the heart of its project. In Paris, we will go further because we know there is still work to be done. In terms of public spaces, we will develop new High Accessibility Neighborhoods, particularly in working-class neighborhoods, and we will organize adapted routes through a major plan to declutter public spaces.

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