In France, an estimated 650,000 people are living with a pervasive developmental disorder, which includesautism.
These disorders are characterized by difficulties in establishing social relationships and communicating in general, as well as behavioral or even language disorders.
If the disease is more or less known to the French, the management and diagnosis of autistic people is still far from perfect.
Thus, according to figures from the Autism Collective, 77.40% of autistic people have not had access to an early diagnosis, even though this condition can be diagnosed from the age of 18 months. On the other hand, 80% of autistic children do not go to school. Worse yet, 43.80% of autistic people believe they have been victims of abuse or lack of care. In France, it is in fact the psychoanalytic approach that is still mostly proposed, to the detriment of the behavioral approach, widely adopted in the United States for years.
Faced with these alarming findings and on the occasion of World Autism Awareness Day, 10 appeals from families of autistic children were sent to the Ministry of Health, with a view to obtaining the conviction of the State in due to inadequate support. They consider the State responsible for their debts due to the remuneration of liberal professionals or private structures, whose interventions are not reimbursed by health insurance. According to a press release from Sophie Janois, lawyer at the Paris Bar, the amount of their damage is estimated between 100,000 and 200,000 euros per family.
