But who will (really) take care of the disability?

“It’s worse than a hole in the racket, it’s a crater.” Brigitte Taittinger-Jouyet, president of the France Multiple Sclerosis Foundation was behind the wheel on Saturday evening when the names of the Barnier government were revealed on the steps of the Elysée Palace. But when she heard “calls from patients”, she quickly understood that “lightning had struck”, along with the list, the 12 million French people with disabilities and the 11 million carers who look after them. Because the word itself has simply “disappeared” from the remit of any new minister. Geneviève Darrieussecq is Minister of Health and Access to Care, Paul Christophe, Minister of Solidarity, Autonomy and Equality between Women and Men. But there is no Secretary of State or Minister Delegate in charge of disability, a first since the early 1980s. This absence, which was more than noticeable, quickly inflamed specialist associations on social networks.

So that Paul Christophe had to raise his hand and signal, as early as Saturday evening in a reassuring message on the X network, that he was the one in charge of disability. He gave this Monday, during the handover of power, the assurance “that disability will be an absolutely central point of [son] commitment “.

A clarification that does not allay concerns. Firstly because now everyone is wondering whether the notion of “disability” is included in the ministerial title under the term “autonomy”. “Treating disability solely from the perspective of autonomy is to ignore the reality of the people concerned”, underlines the France Multiple Sclerosis Foundation, explaining that autonomy is often associated with ageing when disabled people experience difficulties at any age.

A Paralympic Games legacy quickly forgotten

The incomprehension of the associations is all the greater since the Paris Paralympic Games had raised hopes of a real awareness of the path to be taken in terms of visibility or accessibility. “It’s just violent, just a lack of consideration, a complete step backwards,” was angry this Monday morning on RTL the very media-friendly Philippe Croizon“But what happened between the Paralympic Games and this new government?” he asks.

No one suspects Paul Christophe of not being competent on the subject. On the contrary, disability activists who have been able to work with him in the North recognize his real “sensitivity”. But the problem is that he is not a superman. He cannot do everything on his own. “Not having given him a Secretary of State or a Minister Delegate to take care of this cause, which should be national, is a big blunder on an extremely sensitive subject, with humanity and feeling behind it”, explains Brigitte Taittinger-Jouyet, accustomed to having a specific contact in the government, if only to give “alerts”. And she adds, surprised to have had “no feedback” since Sunday, “blunders can be fixed”.

So, will the government, in a mini-express reshuffle, go from 39 to 40 members? The message would prove that it is in any case listening to the field.

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