“On a daily basis, we do it like this: I hold on to the bar, and my sister carries my legs,” says Samah, out of breath, halfway up her stairwell.
Having become paraplegic after being hit by a car in 2011, the 42-year-old Courneuvienne had no choice but to crawl to access her apartment.
With the help of her little sister, 28, she climbs the stairs with difficulty, and putting herself in danger, to the 2nd floor, where she lives with her mother and her 6-year-old son.
By dragging himself step after step, and trying to avoid violent shocks, Samah describes his situation with annoyance: “My arms hurt, in the evening I have aches.
And I'll let you imagine the state of my clothes when it rains and the stairs are soaked from my shoes.
Not to mention the dirt.
»
Previously, when her health permitted, it was her mother who took care of her getting up and down the building.
“I could no longer stand this situation.
She is also disabled in one knee, explains Samah.
That's why I went to live in the South, in a more suitable apartment.
Basically, I am an independent person.
»
But, after three years in Toulon, Samah falls ill and is no longer able to take care of her son.
She is forced to return to La Courneuve (Seine-Saint-Denis) to her family.
“Rebelote, I have been facing these stairs since October 2023.”
If the stairs are the first obstacle to daily life, almost the entire apartment is no more suitable.
The door frames are not wide enough to move around in a wheelchair, her daily toilet is done at the sink since it is impossible for her to access the bathtub, the toilets must remain open when she uses them, etc.
Also read: In Bagneux, the struggle of a disabled couple to be rehoused: “I haven’t gotten some fresh air for two years”
Since her return, and with the help of her two sisters, Samah has tried to defend her cause with different town halls, then wrote to the landlord of her building.
A DALO (enforceable right to accommodation) request was also sent.
“We knock on every possible door but we don't get a positive answer,” laments her little sister Chaïma, who turned to social networks to make her eldest's situation known.
Contacted, the lessor Seqens specifies that Samah does not appear on the lease of the apartment and calls for an update of the file as well as the renewal of a request for adapted housing.
The company adds that given the situation, “this request will be considered a priority”.
However, social housing adapted to people with disabilities is rare.
Precisely in Île-de-France.