Louise Douillet and Juliette Moreau Alvarez 2:31 p.m., December 3, 2022
This is a world first: Charles de Gaulle airport becomes, for one week, Anne de Gaulle airport.
A way for the Foundation of the same name to raise awareness about people with mental disabilities.
The initiative is welcomed by many travelers, especially the first concerned, often lost in this great space.
When Charles leaves his place to Anne.
Since this Saturday, Paris Charles de Gaulle airport has been renamed Anne de Gaulle her daughter, on the occasion of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.
From now on, on the pediment of the airport, on the side of terminals 2A and 2B, it is the first name of the daughter of the first president of the Fifth Republic which is displayed in luminous letters, and this for a week.
It is a world first.
"It's a very good idea"
At the airport, Nadia was accompanied by her son Hamza, who is profoundly autistic, and appreciates the initiative.
"Frankly, it's a very good idea because you have to value people who are like him, disabled, because he can't express himself. He can't say what's good, what's not is not good."
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At the origin of the operation, the Anne de Gaulle Foundation, which fights daily to include in society people with mental disabilities, like Anika who tries to find her way in this great maze.
"It's difficult because it's big, the airport. There, I'm lost, we don't see the timetables, it's not easy to recognize."
At his side, his specialized educator Marie-Laure, who hopes that this day will lead to new devices.
"It can be generalized," she hopes.
"Anything that is 'CA', that is to say augmented communication, with supports such as pictograms, images that allow you to express yourself if you can't speak, it can help you find your way around better. . It can also be sign language."
Many initiatives to develop
Many ideas that the Paris airport is studying.
On the side of the Anne de Gaulle Foundation, we welcome the initiative.
"We wanted to make an impression and be able to put the vision and values of our founders at the service of a social project which brings us together and which goes far beyond us", explains Clarisse Ménager, general manager of the foundation, guest from Europe Noon Weekend.
The signage has already been changed in terminals 2E and 2F as part of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.
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Travelers who take an Air France plane during the week will therefore be told that they will arrive "at Paris-Anne de Gaulle airport".
This initiative is also a means for the foundation to make people discover the history of Charles and Yvonne de Gaulle and to highlight the things to be improved.
"There are urgent needs, the people we accompany tell us: traveling is still an obstacle course today", specifies Clarisse Ménager.
It therefore includes pictograms and simplified signed French.
It is also "rooms of withdrawal and appeasement, sensory spaces which make it possible to reduce the sensory overload that people may feel".