00:00 back to France now where Olympic fever is growing and today marks exactly one year before the Paris
00:05 24 Paralympics begin. For more on that let's bring in France 24's James Vecina who joins me now from
00:10 the site of the launch of the one year to go until the Paralympics begin. James hello what more can
00:16 you tell us? Hi Jeannie, it's exactly that a year to go from now who best to speak to than the
00:24 president of the International Paralympic Committee Andrew Parsons who's here with me just now.
00:31 Andrew Parsons thank you very much for taking the time to speak to us. In a year's time it'll be the
00:36 end of the Olympics but it'll be the start of the Paralympics. How does that make you feel?
00:39 Make me feel very excited about it. We have these games are going to be spectacular here in France
00:44 you know the venues are amazing, athletes are in the best of shape. Paralympic sport has never been
00:50 so strong, stronger than ever before and there's a huge ambition here in France to make these games
00:56 the most spectacular games ever. Okay so making the most spectacular games ever. Paris isn't
01:03 necessarily seen as the most disability friendly city. Probably lots of people watching us now would
01:08 have had an experience coming here and been this is not what they would expect from such a big city.
01:12 How can the Paralympics change that? Well I think we have been changing that for the last six years
01:17 and we see for example a huge investment coming from the city government and the national government
01:22 when it comes to accessibility of public spaces of bus stops here in Paris of the taxi system and so
01:29 we understand a little bit of concern about the metro system in Paris not being made accessible
01:34 due to the legislation here in Paris but there's a huge investment being made on the on the ground
01:38 system to make it more accessible and at a national level there is 1.5 billion euros being invested
01:44 in making public spaces more accessible so it's something that is not going to finish with the
01:48 clothing ceremony of the games but it's something that will keep on on and on and on so keeping the
01:53 legacy of life. Legacy obviously is something that's very important to you we'll speak about
01:56 that in just a bit. I want to ask you is there an edition of the Paralympics that you look up to
02:01 and that you think maybe we can do the same maybe we can surpass it? I think London is still the
02:06 benchmark for the Paralympic Games in terms of the promotion in terms of let's say the relevance of
02:11 those games and how the games really change the life of persons with disability in Great Britain
02:15 so yeah there are some things that we can implement here especially when it comes to the promotion of
02:19 the Paralympics we are a few weeks from the launch of the ticket sales and we would like to see
02:24 all the tickets being sold the 2.8 million tickets to be sold they are very affordable
02:30 they are special packages so I think this is what we would like to if there is something that we'd
02:34 like to see copied from London edition to this edition will be the participation of the public.
02:39 So because of course the public is so important you've been president now for six years what's in
02:45 general maybe not just in the Paralympics but in sports for people with disabilities what are the
02:50 changes that you've seen in those last six years? I think Paralympic sport and Parasport in general
02:55 is more relevant than ever before so it's being recognized by multiple countries and governments
02:59 and sport laws as high-level sport as a let's say sport that needs investment from the nation
03:06 from the ministries of sport so it's being recognized and I know it's sometimes it's
03:10 funny to hear that but in many countries in the world still today sport for persons with
03:16 disabilities not even in the national sport law so this is a huge step in the last few years so
03:21 it's more relevant impacting more people for the games in Paris here we will achieve we will get to
03:26 impact 4.1 billion people around the world through broadcasters so I think this is where we're going
03:32 at impacting more people making the game games a platform for change lives. So you talk about that
03:37 as a platform that's something that you talked about this morning 1.2 billion people with a
03:42 disability in the world so what are the long-term changes that a city like Paris can actually bring
03:48 because it doesn't start just with infrastructures is it's in the minds of people it's from a very
03:51 young age that this kind of needs to be this awareness needs to come about? Well basically
03:55 two things one is the change in perception changing mindset and the population of Paris
04:01 for example understanding the person with disability should be a part of society like
04:04 anyone else and that's why we invest a lot in schools when it comes to games like we had the
04:09 Olympic and Paralympic weeks where more than 1 million kids were involved in activities so
04:14 make with the theme of inclusion so making sure they understand from a very early age that
04:20 persons with disability has the same rights and should be seen as anyone else in the society and
04:25 the second one is of course accessibility because if you change only the mindset but if you don't
04:28 give the means the opportunity for a person with disability to move around the city to you know
04:33 practice sport go to go to study to meet people to just you know move around the city be citizens
04:39 you will not get achieve an inclusive society. Yeah I think there's no secret about that France
04:44 you do not see as many disabled people in whatever way as you would as in other countries and we
04:49 think about England of course where there is a lot more accessibility for people whether it's in
04:55 wheelchairs or with disabilities in general public services seem to be a bit more focused towards
04:59 that than France. Yes but you need you need both I can give you the example of Tokyo for example
05:04 where Tokyo was a very accessible city compared to any other city in the world every big city around
05:09 the world but you before the games you could not see persons with disability in the street
05:13 because there was a a concept of over protecting them you know like oh stay at home yeah you don't
05:19 need to go out come on we have all the benefits here but first of all persons with disability
05:23 they have the right to you know enjoy life to its fullest to study to work to make friends to travel
05:29 and then have some collateral effects for example hotel rooms in Japan they were not accessible at
05:34 all because in Japan people before the games they didn't think about persons with disability
05:39 traveling for leisure or for business so there's a lot of that so that's why you need the change
05:43 in the mindset and the accessibility part without one without the other will not work.
05:49 You've seen the Olympics and Paralympics in your hometown Rio before what's the long-standing
05:56 change there what's what's the effect been from the Paralympics what's the legacy been like what's
06:00 it like for people with disabilities now is there a difference compared to before can you see that?
06:05 Yes first of all a change in terms of changing legislation so in the lead-up to the games in
06:10 2015 there was a law that was approved in Brazil changing the lives of persons with disability
06:15 when it comes to employment housing social security sport education and so on it's a huge
06:20 bill of law and that being implemented with the games as a catalyst was fundamental to change
06:25 the life of persons with disability in Brazil and again it's a country with 25 million persons with
06:30 disability so it had a huge effect on Brazil and Paralympic sport was also there was something
06:35 that was already relevant even before the Rio 2016 games so it's it's how you build let's say the
06:42 this process in the lead-up to the games you cannot only wait for the games to happen because
06:47 only 10 days of sport is not enough but it's the whole seven-year journey to it.
06:51 So are there any objectives that you think that you could see happen from previous games maybe
06:56 the ones in Rio that can just be transferred to Paris and maybe can be things that you've
07:01 learned from before that can just be applied to Paris very simply?
07:04 Well I think we are seeing some of these changes here when it comes again to to the investment
07:08 made because it's not only about making Paris and France more accessible from an architectural
07:12 point of view but there are some projects like the club inclusive which is making sport clubs
07:18 in France more accessible to persons with disability and not only from an accessibility
07:23 point of view but training the coaches training the trainers in how to welcome them there's also
07:28 changes in the tax legislation making assistive technology equipment more affordable to to the
07:33 French people with disability so there's a range of changes here cultural educational programs to
07:38 invest in the youngsters because the the kids from today are the decision makers of tomorrow not only
07:43 the politicians not only the future mayor or president so but you know the the the owners of a
07:49 small restaurant that will have a menu in braille that will have a ramp in the front door and
07:52 things like that. Small things like that make the life of a person more or less inclusive and this
07:59 is the cultural shock as Mayor Hidalgo referred this morning that we want to have in France. People
08:04 understand that it's not a favor to persons with disability they have the same set of rights that
08:09 we all have. It's just about feeling normal in the end isn't it not not special not needing anything
08:13 else but just feeling included in a way. Thank you very much for taking the time to speak to us
08:19 um that's basically what is going to be going on for a year now to come before the starts there'll
08:24 be events taking place in the building just behind us as all along the Eiffel Tower so a year to go
08:30 then before the start of the Paralympics here in Paris. James thank you so much for that James
08:34 Messina there reporting for us and talking to Andrew Parsons the president of the International
08:38 Paralympic Committee thanks to them both.
