Making Your City Disabled-Friendly: Lessons From Previous Paralympic Games Hosts

With the capital city of Paris ramping up infrastructure in and around the Summer Games' venues, residents with disabilities hope all these facilities become more accessible to them after the completion of the Paralympics.

A key cog in that wheel is public transit, which often proves to be the stumbling block. Several reports have highlighted the plight of wheelchair users and other commuters with disabilities, who face a variety of difficulties in trying to reach stadia.

While the option to book assistance online and ready availability of personnel has been helpful, the inaccessible nature of the century-old underground Metro has been flagged by many, including International Paralympic Committee (IPC) president Andrew Parsons.

Parsons has lauded Paris' efforts to make overground transport more accessible, but also noted how other parts of the public transit system, the Metro in particular wherein 93% of the stations are either inaccessible or only partially accessible to people in wheelchairs.

There are lessons to be learnt here from hosts of previous Paralympic Games editions.

Attitude Shift In Beijing

The 2008 Games in Beijing, for instance, depicted how the Paralympics can and should make infrastructure more amenable for people with disabilities. The IPC president at the time, Sir Philip Craven noted in his column for the United Nations: "The event changed China’s approach and attitude towards disability, making its society more inclusive for the country’s estimated 83 million people living with an impairment.

"Prior to the Games, the country was less accessible and, in many ways, less hospitable for anyone living with an impairment. Winning the right to host the 2008 Games triggered action by the Chinese Government to improve the lives of people with disabilities and protect their rights as equal members of society.

"New legislation on accessibility was passed and, in the seven years leading up to the Games, China spent more than 150 million dollars — equivalent to the last 20 years’ investment in accessible infrastructure — on making 14,000 facilities accessible throughout the country."

Sir Craven added: "More than 17 million dollars were spent making 60 popular tourist destinations accessible. Elevators and wheelchair ramps were installed along the most popular section of the Great Wall of China, and accessibility was improved at the 600-year-old Forbidden City (Imperial Palace)."

What's more, China went on to become one of the first signatories of the UN convention on the rights of people with disabilities, an international human rights treaty that came into effect on 3 May 2008.

On July 1 the same year, the amended Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Protection of Persons with Disabilities entered into force. The law affirmed that the State and society must take steps to enhance accessible facilities and share information that helps enable equitable participation in social life for people with impairments.

Sir Craven further wrote: "Thanks to the Paralympic Games, people in China now have a greater awareness of persons with physical impairments. Chinese citizens with an impairment receive more respect and attention. They enjoy a better social status, improved social security, better educational opportunities, easier access to employment and much more."

London Lessons

The following edition in London, too, was a success in terms of improving accessibility for people with disabilities. Metrics like wheelchair ticket sales, pre-booked journeys and increased lift usage all suggested that far more people with impairments used public transport throughout the Games.

For those with visual disabilities, tactile paving and protective walls at the platform edges made the system safer. Additionally, 66 of London’s 270 functioning tube stations were enabled with step-free access, while the overground driverless train network was fully accessible.

There is still lots to be done in both cities, but in terms of the push needed to raise awareness and drive affirmative action, the Paralympics were a huge success. One hopes for a similar story to transpire in Paris as well as future host cities.