Disability and budgetary contempt – Enough is Enough!

 

Last Wednesday, during the colloquium on aging, disability, and the loss of autonomy organized by Corerpa IDF and Place pour tous, I emphasized a crucial point: to ensure that people with disabilities can age with dignity, we must first address the economic inequalities and extreme precarity in which they are kept.

What an irony it is to learn that, in the same week, the Barnier government announced a €100 million cut to Agefiph’s funds, an institution financed by companies that do not fulfill their legal obligation to hire disabled workers. This amount represents one-fifth of the resources of this body, which is supposed to finance the professional integration of people with disabilities – a critical issue, given that these individuals are already living in great poverty.

How can I put this plainly? It is hard to believe we are living in 2024, in a country that prides itself on defending human rights and equality, where inclusion is celebrated with great fanfare, filled with flamboyant speeches. Only yesterday, we were still talking about the “inclusion revolution,” a legacy of the Paralympic Games.

Yet, as is often the case, actions contradict the rhetoric. And these actions speak louder than any grandiose words.

The message the government sends with this budget cut is clear: the professional inclusion of people with disabilities is not a priority. Despite the lofty speeches, inclusion remains nothing but an illusion.

This budget cut is no minor adjustment. It means canceled training, inaccessible jobs, and scrapped integration projects. In short, it condemns thousands of people to even greater poverty. These individuals, already in a state of vulnerability, are being hit with an injustice that, instead of being corrected, is cruelly amplified.

And who benefits from this budget cut? What’s even more outrageous is that these €100 million will go directly into the state’s budget, which cares little about its commitments to the rights of people with disabilities.

Let us not forget that France has been criticized, both by the United Nations and Europe, for its failure to respect the rights of people with disabilities.

How can we talk about inclusion while dismantling the few mechanisms that offer even the slightest chance to lift people with disabilities out of poverty? How can we talk about rights when, under the guise of “economic priorities,” these rights are being gradually and insidiously taken away?

This decision is not merely an oversight or a mistake. It is an act of contempt. A contempt that perpetuates a system of exclusion where disability is only addressed when it serves political interests, relegated to empty, opportunistic speeches.

Let’s be clear, Mr. Barnier: the inclusion revolution is not limited to stadiums and ceremonies. It is decided in the political and budgetary decisions that shape our lives. Disability will no longer be a variable in your accounting adjustments. This budget cut isn’t just about numbers; it’s about our lives.

We will not remain silent in the face of this injustice. We will mobilize, raise our voices, and reverse this decision until inclusion becomes more than a slogan. Inclusion is a fundamental human right, a demand for social justice that we will defend relentlessly from now on.

#InclusionForAll #SocialJustice #Disability #InclusionRevolution #Agefiph #NoToPoverty