FOR THE HANDICAPPED

For the handicapped, the focus is on accessibility

Sharing and open-mindedness are essential to an event that is enjoyable for all. For the handicapped or elderly, reduced mobility is a major problem, and we must do everything we can to make the Fêtes accessible to them.

Let’s hear what Philippe Boissonnas, who is in charge of “special operations”, has to say:

Why have you reinforced the list of measures in favour of the disabled?

Philippe Boissonnas: Jésus Fernandez is the architect in charge of setting up the infrastructures in the perimeter of the Geneva Festival. I am the Secretary General of the International Foundation for Research in Paraplegia (IRP). We are both members of the Organizing Committee of the Geneva Festival, and so we are both very aware of the problem. It is our mission to ensure access for everyone during the festivities. We have set up a better system than in previous editions of the Fêtes thanks to field research carried out by persons with extensive experience of the festival, all of them disabled, like Marc Ristori, a former motorcycle champion, and François Planche, an architect specialising in the problems of the disabled in urban areas, who is also the President of the Fondation Handicap Urbanisme & Architecture – HUA