Mathilde Cormery has just spent almost a week locked up at home. The young woman has suffered from cerebral palsy since birth, also called “cerebral palsy”. She is usually quite independent thanks to her electric wheelchair. But in September, all it took was an elevator breakdown for her daily life to be turned upside down.
The one who lives in Talent, a town in the Côte-d’Or, lives with her mother on the first floor of a building. Her elevator broke down on Thursday, September 15, and was restarted on Thursday, September 22. Since her mother works during the day, she cannot carry her upstairs so that Mathilde can take care of her business.
“I called the social landlord, Orvitis, several times, without answer. Today they answered me because of the article” published in the public good On Thursday night about his situation, he told BFMTV this Friday.
Orvitis, contacted by BFMTV.com, claims to have no trace of these calls. Otherwise, the landlord assures that she would have called associations or the social action center of the municipality to help the 24-year-old girl.
Social and professional isolation
For Mathilde, a broken elevator causes difficulties on several levels. She is currently a student trainee at the DFCO Foot Chaise association, which organizes football sessions for people in wheelchairs. During these 10 days, her employer agreed for her to work remotely.
“But there are several awareness days in schools that I haven’t been able to do and that could harm me. I am afraid of being deprived, ”she explains.
Not being able to see his classmates, but also his friends, who are mostly in wheelchairs, also creates “social isolation”, he denounces.
Especially since this problem is recurring. According to the student, approximately every year since 2017, her elevator has been out of order for about 10 days. Orvitis admits to having “difficulties with the elevator in this building”, linked to wear and tear and certain damage. In the case of a recent failure, the repair time is linked to the order of a part out of stock that took several days to arrive.
The lift is currently under the supervision of the maintenance company responsible for the device. The company says it understands the “discomfort and difficulty” that Mathilde feels and states that she “should not spend 6 days without being able to move.”
The young woman also affirms that one of the times she called Orvitis, the person at the switchboard answered: “You’re disabled, so you don’t need to leave your house.” “It’s social abuse,” she denounces. For her part, the social landlord “doesn’t even dare to imagine that this could happen” because her customer service is “professional”. The company will investigate the matter.
Half of the buildings open to the public inaccessible to people with disabilities
“If I alert public opinion, it is because these kinds of stories don’t happen to me,” says Mathilde.
Stéphane Lenoir, coordinator of the Collectif Handicaps, which brings together 52 national associations of people with disabilities and their families, agrees with him. “We get regular feedback about elevator breakdowns,” he explains to BFMTV.com.
“In general, it is unacceptable that a person is trapped at home by a broken elevator. Social owners must implement their maintenance contract and not pass the buck to the maintenance company,” he says.
But, regularly in society, people with disabilities face accessibility problems, whether in their building, at the station or in a small company, stresses Stéphane Lenoir.
In fact, according to figures provided by France to the UN in August 2021, of approximately two million buildings open to the public in France, only one million are accessible to people with disabilities. Among the train stations, only 45% meet the accessibility criteria.
Source: BFM TV
