persistent brakes in access to sport

Par Vanessa Carronnier

“Sport made me want to rebuild myself”, testifies to theAFP Emilien CHEDEVILLE, 22, who became paraplegic after an accident in 2021. At the start, this passionate, however, to find a structure that can welcome him. His studies in Bayonne completed, he decided to settle in Montauban to get closer to his family and join a club where he can take over rugby. Since then, he has also embarked on the basketball, wakeboard and disabled.

The Handiguide of Sports: online directory

To find a Para Sport club, those interested can turn to their town hall or consult the Handiguide des Sports, online directory which lists sports structures welcoming disabled (Handiguide: What sports offer in the event of disability?). 20 years ago, it was “A obstacle course to find a club adapted to his handicap in the discipline we wanted”, described to theAFP Aude Moulin Delalande, sports manager at the APF France Handicap association. “The situation has evolved significantly, even if it is not perfect.”

1,536 clubs affiliated with suitable sport

Since the law of February 11, 2005 which provides for “participation” In life in society with disabled people, the number of sports clubs formed at the reception of this audience has developed significantly. The French Federation of Adapted Sport now has 1,536 affiliated clubs that can accommodate people with mental or mental disabilities, compared to 603 in 2005. “We must continue to work so that these people have the same choice as the others”estimates with theAFP Laure Dugachard, interim national technical director of this federation. To do this, it must be continued to continue training in ordinary clubs.

Transport still inconvenient

For its part, the French Handisport Federation lists 1,574 structures that can lead to sportsmen with a physical handicap, against 1,041 in 2010. “The clubs have developed unequal in the territory, sometimes the club closest to home remains distant”, recognizes theAFP Ludivine Munos, delegated vice-president. To get there, “You also need an accessible mode of transport”, At times that correspond to those of training. A service that is not available everywhere, while the law of February 11, 2005 planned to make public transport accessible within ten years.

Obstacles within sports equipment

In Nantes, Marc Verove, 61, amputated with one leg, goes by car to his Rugby XIII Rugby training. It is especially inside the gym that it is in difficulty: “My sport chair does not pass the doors, too narrow, I cannot go to the locker room with”. Result, he must bring an in addition classic armchair. “We always have to manage”, he regrets. According to law, sports facilities, which are among the establishments open to the public (ERP), should be accessible to everyone, but it is still far from being the case (ERP not accessible: the “great bankruptcy of the state”?).

Self -censorship, main brake to practice

In addition to the obstacles linked to accessibility, the Handicaps collective estimates that self -censorship remains one of the main obstacles to the practice of a sporting activity for disabled people, whether it is linked to “A lack of financial means” or at “A fear of the gaze of others”. When he wanted to resume swimming, Jean-Marc Augereau, 61, who became a hemiplegic following a stroke, wondered if he was going “get there”. At the Montauban Handisport Swimming Club, “I met comrades with routes similar to mine”, which helps “Disinhibit certain apprehensions”, he explains to theAFP. Today he has the “satisfaction” of having managed to resume sport.

A practice 2 times greater in “valids”

In 2020, 32 % of people with disabilities aged 15 and over said they had a sports activity once a week on average over the past year, against 65 % among the entire population, according to a report from the National Institute of Youth and Popular Education (INJEP), published at the end of 2024.

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