The still worrying health crisis is forcing the government to reconfigure the country. But between distress and loneliness, people with disabilities worry about their daily lives.
The re-containment has been launched, since this Friday, October 30, 2020, to fight against the coronavirus. But with this return to "stay at home", voices are being raised to highlight a certain number of questioning points. This is the case with Handicaps Collective, accompanied by APF France Handicap, which sent an alert letter to the Prime Minister, Jean Castex. Already excluded outside the Covid-19 era, people with disabilities fear the new government measures put in place. During the first confinement, the associations noted that pre-existing situations were exacerbated and they underline:
- Refusal of care is not tolerable.
- The support cannot be stopped abruptly and without an alternative.
- Professionals must be able to work in complete safety and confidence.
- The school and all places of learning must remain open for children with disabilities as well as for others, with the necessary support.
- Encouraged teleworking must also be possible for workers with disabilities.
- All official information related to covid-19 must be accessible.
- The first derogations must continue.
Requests made to the Prime Minister
"The current health situation has forced the President of the Republic to confine the country again. This decision, difficult to take, difficult to live with, is also taken to protect our fellow citizens who are most vulnerable because of their state of health or their While not all people with disabilities are vulnerable, the fact remains that a certain number of them are in extremely difficult social, health or economic situations and for which this confinement, even partial, constitutes a new test ", declares Arnaud de Broca, president of the Collectif Handicaps, in his letter addressed to the Prime Minister, dated October 29, 2020. Over the words affixed to the letter, all the member associations ask:
- Allow continuity of medico-social support for people with disabilities in order to prevent any regression and isolation.
- Support caregivers to cope with their exhaustion.
- Ensure the continuity of school education for students with disabilities.
- Guarantee access to healthcare for all and without inequalities of treatment, as well as access to basic necessities, by means of cash payment.
- Ensure the continuity of work within ESATs (Editor's note: Establishment and service of help through work) in order to prevent any desocialization or loss of socio-professional skills of workers.
- Provide for the modalities to allow working from home by adapting work equipment and providing accessibility devices.
- Make information accessible.
- Accept any exit exemption for disabled people who need it.
- Train the police to welcome people with neurodevelopmental disorders (intellectual or cognitive disabilities) or in a complex communication situation made worse by wearing a mask (deaf or hard of hearing people).
The Handicaps Collective recalls the need "to co-construct emergency solutions" and "to imagine and the society of tomorrow: a society of caring, solidarity and truly inclusive."
In France, 12 million people, or 1 in 6 individuals, suffer from a disability, according to APF France Handicap.