At the Paralympic fan zone outside Paris's elegant city hall, the focus is not just on watching athletes compete but better understanding parasports – and trying them out for yourself.
The Paralympics, which got underway on Wednesday, are counting on the incredible energy generated during the two weeks of the Olympics, which drew enthusiastic crowds both inside the venues and in the public fan zones around the capital.
One of the largest areas open to the public is at the Hôtel de Ville, or town hall, in the heart of the city.
The building's ornate stone façade are festooned with banners in the Paris 2024 palette of pale pink, green, beige and shades of blue, while the flagstones of the plaza out front have been covered with bright blue mats, sports equipment and shaded seating areas to welcome around 2,500 people at a time.
Léo, a young instructor who works for the local parasports committee in the greater Paris region, runs workshops in wheelchair basketball and sitting volleyball.
He's happy to see parasports edging further and further into the limelight, thanks in part to the excitement around the Paris Games.
“I have a twin brother who is disabled so I have always been in contact with parasports. It is very rewarding and nice to see young people with disabilities enjoying sports,” he told RFI.
Requests for workshops to raise awareness in schools and communities have noticeably increased, he says.
Who are the French athletes competing in the Paris Paralympic Games?
A chance to explore
Nearby, teams of kids in red and green jerseys and eye masks are getting instructions on how to play blind football. Some of them are tourists visiting from Slovenia and Germany.
The workshops are run by members of Femix’Sport, an association which promotes diversity and women's representation in sports federations.
Thiphaine Meriot, the group's development and communications manager, says that the workshops at the city hall fan zone are an ideal opportunity for people from different social groups to mix – regardless of age and background, and whether or not they have a disability.
She says that people are surprised and curious to learn the rules of blind football, in which visually impaired players seek to score goals guided by a ball with a bell inside.
Only the goalkeeper is allowed to have full sight, while assistants near the goalposts can help give vocal instructions to the other players.
“I thought that blind football was quite well known, but in fact it’s not,” Meriot says. “We can tell that people are not familiar with it, so they discover it here.
“The more we have these kinds of workshops, the more we can help people discover new and challenging sports.”
Accessibility gaps
Not only are the Paralympics a chance to highlight the talents of remarkable athletes, organisers are also hoping to address issues of discrimination, inclusiveness and accessibility in wider society.
Alain, a volunteer at the Games, spends his days scooting around the fan zone in his electric wheelchair, showing visitors around.
Although he is proud to see Paris hosting such a high-profile event, he admits that a lot needs to be done to improve accessibility, especially when it comes to public transport.
“Only the automatised metro line 14 is fully accessible at all stations,” he says, adding that the tram network is in better shape because it was built more recently, while public buses now have special ramps.
But the suburban RER train network is unfortunately lagging behind, he says, as only a few of the stations have been upgraded. These lines serve several Paralympic sites outside the city, such as the equestrian arena at the Château de Versailles.
“Of course we can call on someone [from the station] to help us, but that means that we are not independent. I find that unacceptable in 2024. We should be independent like everyone else,” Alain says.
Paris metro accessibility a 'weak spot' ahead of Paralympics
Shifting priorities
A total of 18 of the 35 Olympic venues will be reused during the Paralympics, albeit with minor modifications to better suit parasports.
International Paralympic Committee president Andrew Parsons told French news agency AFP earlier this year he hopes the Paris edition will help make the issues facing people with disabilities a higher global priority.
Parsons said he believes the Games "will have a big impact in how people with disability are perceived around the world".
He argued that disability had fallen behind sexual and gender identity in recent years.
"We do believe people with disability have been left behind," he said. "There is very little debate about persons with disability."
