Conferences & Events

By John Morris

A bittersweet feeling filled my heart as the familiar sound of The Star-Spangled Banner reached my ears and the flag of the United States of America was raised inside the Parc des Princes, the iconic football stadium in Paris, where the U.S. women’s soccer team had just claimed Olympic Gold. Bittersweet as it marked the end of my two week Olympic journey, one that had taken me first to the South of France in Nice and Marseille, and then to the magical City of Lights that is the French capital.

I had made a relatively last minute decision to attend the Olympic Games, booking airfare and purchasing tickets only two months in advance of the Opening Ceremony. While many of the top events like Gymnastics and Swimming had been sold out for more than a year, I was still able to secure tickets to incredible contests like basketball, soccer, tennis and water polo. The trip was special in that it allowed me to get a firsthand look at the city’s preparation for the games, including its investments in accessible design and infrastructure, while also connecting with WheelchairTravel.org readers and disabled sports fans who call Paris home or who had traveled from around the world.

As the United States prepares to host three major international sporting events over the next decade — the 2026 World Cup, 2028 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, and 2034 Winter Olympics and Paralympics — the lessons learned in Paris, about what worked and did not work, must guide our planning to make these events accessible. The United States of America is presented with both a challenge and an opportunity, to put on the most accessible and inclusive international sporting events ever held, and it is an opportunity that I hope we will not let go to waste.

In this reflection, I would like to look at three key areas where accessibility mattered — in some cases, Olympic and Paralympic organizers excelled, and in other cases there is opportunity for improvement.

Ticketing

One area where the Paris Olympics and Paralympics truly excelled was in the sales of tickets, where a robust ticketing website allowed disabled fans to buy and resell accessible seats easily. Given the nature and design of the many existing venues used in these games, accessible seats were not available in all price bands, but the committee made the decision to make accessible seats available for purchase even at the lowest price points. These decisions ensured equity in pricing, and many wheelchair accessible tickets were available for just €15 at the Paralympic Games and €24 at the Olympic Games.

Transportation

Transportation was a key challenge for Olympic and Paralympic organizers in Paris. The Paris Metro, one of the oldest mass transit systems in the world, is largely off-limits to wheelchair users, with only one of sixteen lines being wheelchair accessible. While the city’s failure to modernize its metro system is worthy of disdain, significant investments were made in accessible above-ground transportation. The city brought online more than 1,000 wheelchair accessible taxis, which were widely available, and invested in modern, low-floor city buses with wheelchair ramps. The city’s single fully accessible metro line, Line 14, was extended in both directions in advance of the games, providing access to key competition sites. I used Line 14 daily, and frequently saw many other wheelchair users doing the same.

To help fill some of the gaps and to promote transportation equity, Olympic organizers invested in wheelchair accessible shuttles to transport disabled fans from major train stations to competition venues at an affordable rate of €4 each way. While the shuttle service was not as robust as I would have liked, it did prove useful to me and other fans that I encountered.

The city claimed that rideshare operator Uber had added a significant number of wheelchair accessible vehicles to its fleet, but I was unable to secure an accessible Uber ride myself, nor were any of the wheelchair users I spoke to during the Olympic Games. The accessibility of rideshare continues to be a key challenge impacting accessibility in cities of all sizes around the globe.

Fan Experience

Key to the enjoyment of any event, be it an athletic competition or a music concert, is the attention to detail concerning the fan experience. At the Paris Olympics, many things were done correctly: dedicated entrances were provided for disabled ticket-holders, abundant staff and volunteers were onsite to provide assistance, and a variety of accessible seats were available to provide excellent sightlines.

On the whole, I had a better fan experience in Paris than I might typically have at sporting events in the United States, but some WheelchairTravel.org readers have shared frustrations. 

Three complaints have caught my attention: 

• one, that many accessible seats were placed in direct sunlight; 
• two, that “accessible” seats for semi-ambulatory fans were not accessible in some venues, requiring those fans to ascend or descend multiple stairs (in one reported case, some 70 stairs); 
• and third, that the view for some wheelchair users was blocked by nondisabled fans who were standing during key moments of competition. 

One key reflection shared in my newsletter (https://wheelchairtravel.substack.com/p/wheelchair-travel-newsletter-jet) is that organizers must take a broader view of accessibility when planning for events that attract a diverse, global audience. Accessibility cannot be focused only on wheelchair users — greater attention must be paid to semi-ambulatory fans, and those with a much wider range of disabilities that extend beyond physical or mobility challenges.

Organizers will say that the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics are the most accessible in history, but opportunities for improvement remain. The world once again looks to the United States to set an example and, as 2026, 2028 and 2034 approach, it is critical that host cities seize the opportunity to ensure that disabled fans are included, and that they create World Cup, Olympic and Paralympic experiences that not only bring people together, but deliver a lasting benefit to the people who call these cities home.