How do? I can't believe it's been a week since I decided to randomly fuck off to Paris to go Paralympic-ing. It all went by too quickly 
As I'm now incapacitated post surgery, I thought I'd share my musings, especially after a few people asked about the experience from the disability perspective. So....
The Metro in Paris - not a fucking clue because I didn't touch it with the proverbial bargepole.
Taxis - lots of wheelchair accessible ones. The "official" partner company was an absolute rip off though. Soooooo expensive!
Buses - ace, lots of them, could get e or 4 (!) wheelchairs on each bus, which is unheard of. Also cheap (free  ) because they didn't put a tap in point in the wheelchair spaces or near the middle doors.
Hotels - first one booked cancelled on us as we were en route because it actually realised it WASN'T wheelchair accessible but no matter. We found a really nice hostel on the outskirts and had a lovely stay. Bathroom was a bit ropey but okay for a couple of days' stay.
Eurostar - an absolute revelation! Only spaces in the first class carriages for wheelchairs on any Eurostar train but you only pay a standard fare with a 25% discount for you AND your companion! So we paid relative peanuts for return 1st class. Including all the lounges and other first class perks. Winner 
Venue tickets - this was the biggest bugbear! There were cheap tickets released each night for venues with remaining availability, €15 each. And none of them were for wheelchair spaces. Hardly any last minute wheelchair + companion spaces available and what was available was often the highest price point, €100 EACH, in a box. I did manage to get reasonably priced athletics and wheelchair basketball tickets via the official resale site or buy hitting refresh x100 at midnight. But it was galling to see empty spaces at many sports we wanted to see. Also companion seats seemed utterly random and rarely placed near the wheelchair, despite there being seats nearby. As my travelling companion was a child, it was not acceptable for her seat to be in another area of the arena. We did resolve it via the staff but there seemed no reason for the original seating arrangement! At both venues, the wheelchair spaces and row of seats in front was NOT fully occupied and so clearly tickets could be offered "on the gate" or something like that. Had Mr KC come with us, it would have been impossible for all 3 of us to even buy tickets for the same event. Only 1 companion tickets permitted per wheelchair, so I'd have sat alone and him + child elsewhere. Similar complaints came from every wheelchair user we spoke to about tickets.
Paris - generally very accessible. Decent pavements, plenty of dropped kerbs, relatively flat, friendly and helpful people, despite my rudimentary French.
They had motorised wheelchair attachments you could hire from the cycle hubs BUT it was €50 a day (expensive!) compared to about €20 for a regular bike, so I didn't bother.
Fan park - all accessible but many of the taster activities were not adapted for disabled people or limited provision/time for disability adapted activities. It felt like they got out the same kit as for the Olympics with little adaptation. E.g. rock climbing wall with nothing to aid, mainly standing height volleyball and when we did get to try seated volleyball, this was dominated by able bodied people standing up or kneeling up. Wheelchair basketball taster was available but only for a short period, replaced by the running game for longer because presumably this required less supervision. Also able bodied people took the piss and didn't give priority access to the reduced height food counters. The food was served at standing height so if a wheelchair went to the majority of the kiosks, they couldn't even be seen or heard if they shouted excusez-moi. But never mind.
Security and police people - also very helpful and understanding.
Overall though, it's a OUI and probably neuf points out of dix for the four days 🇫🇷♿💪🏻 |
