“Finished for being… not disabled enough ?”: French para-athlete receives fine sitting in disabled seat on train

Paralympic torchbearer this summer, Axel Alletru, para-athlete, received a fine on Monday, January 13th during his TGV journey. While he is an incomplete paraplegic with 80% disability in his legs, the SNCF reproaches him for having sat in the seats reserved for people with reduced mobility.

200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000

On a trip that was supposed to take him from Lille to Paris on Monday, January 13, Axel Alletru had a nasty surprise. That of receiving a fine when the Paralympic athlete, an incomplete paraplegic, had simply sat in a seat reserved for people with reduced mobility. He denounced this situation on Instagram, a story picked up by BFM.

Accompanied by a photo of the 149 euro fine he was given, the pilot and swimmer exclaims “A fine for being… not disabled enough ?”. Axel Alletru is an incomplete paraplegic with an 80% disability in his legs since an accident at the motocross world championship in 2010. After his accident, he took up disabled swimming, before returning to motor sports a few years ago.

“It's not an object that makes the handicap”

Although he sometimes uses a wheelchair, this time he decided not to take it. “Losing 80% of my leg abilities doesn't disappear just because I'm standing or on crutches. Quite the opposite: without my wheelchair, my legs have to compensate even more, which requires a colossal effort on a daily basis”, explains Axel Alletru in his post. For him, it is “urgent to understand that disability is not limited to a wheelchair”.

10 times French champion and 6 times European champion in disabled swimming, Axel Alletru explains “sharing this to challenge and change mentalities: let's stop reducing disability to clichés or absurd rules”.