While France has been singled out by the Council of Europe for not respecting people with disabilities, Emmanuel Macron acknowledged that “we are not up to the ideal of equality that we have engraved on the pediment of the Republic” when 6e National Disability Conference this April 26, 2023.
To respond to this, the President of the Republic announced a whole series of measures aimed in particular at improving the inclusion of children and adolescents with disabilities in schools, or even allowing them better access to health services. The most anticipated: 100% reimbursement for wheelchairselectric or manual”by removing the remaining charge” from 2024. Currently, the Sécu reimburses a maximum of 5,200 euros for an electric wheelchair, while its price can go up to 25,000 euros.
In total, the State is preparing to devote an and a half billion euros for access to public buildings for people with disabilities, in particular small shops, restaurants or transport. “This project is far from being a discovery, we have been making commitments for 20 years, it is the one that prevents your lives so and so much, access to housing, sometimes to a job and basically to the most fundamental rights“, conceded the president. “It is a heavy budget line“, he announced, promising a “real programming“from this summer.
Improving inclusion at school
While “too many insufficient situations“also remain in schools, the president has also made several announcements for the inclusion of young people, in particular referent teachers”able to support them” and the recruitment of support staff for students with disabilities (AESH) outside school hours. At the start of the 2022 academic year, 430,000 students with disabilities were not in school.
The CNH also wants the university to be fully accessible and that all workers have the same rights.. “Training centers must be able to accommodate people regardless of their disability“, affirmed the president. And for access to employment for adults, the “remuneration of adult apprentices will be increased”. In 2022, 11,659 more disabled apprentices were counted compared to 2017
All of these measures will be subject to monitoring and an initial assessment from the year 2024. In the event of non-compliance, sanctions may then be applied.
What about intimate life?
“To have a life like everyone else is also to have an emotional, loving, intimate and sexual life.“, insisted the head of state. “It’s not a taboo, it’s a matter of well-being, health“.
For people living as a couple, the president confirmed the deconjugalization of the Disabled Adult Allowance (AAH) : a measure which will allow the increase of the allowance of 350 euros per month on average, and this from the 1er October for 120,000 people.
While some of the associations had boycotted the conference, how did they react to the measures? “We would have liked to hear about accessibility for handicaps beyond motor handicaps“, deplores in particular Luc Gateau, president of Unapei, with franceinfo. “Many declarations of intent and not many new measures“, judged Arnaud de Broca, president of the Handicaps Collective.
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