Minister of Health and Solidarity Olivier Véran and Prime Minister Secretary of State in charge with people with disabilities Sophie Cluzel addressed earlier this afternoon on Saturday April 4, 2020 for a press conference aiming at giving more details about the measures implement by the government for people with disabilities.
Sophie Cluzel starts by guaranteeing people with disabilities and especially those whose handicap expose them to serious respiratory complications, especially poly-handicapped people and people suffering from neuromuscular diseases that the entire government is by their side during the fight.
The 150,000 children and adults whose day schools and daycare centers have shut down for national security reasons can still enjoy an at-home aid. Parents can also enjoy a leave indemnified by health insurance non limited by the age of the person helped.
30,000 disabled adults are now living in specialized facilities expected to guarantee confinement and try to implement innovative means to sustain the bond between people with disabilities and their family.
The government also took measures to guarantee the continuity of rights of people with disabilities such as transferring allowances for adults with disabilities or the handicap compensation allowances. All these rights are automatically extended for 6 months.
As for the 430,000 children with disabilities, Sophie Cluzel says she’s been working with Jean-Michel Blanquer so that they can also enjoy educational continuity. In concrete words, “all resources available to help to the adaptation of homework have been put in free access and many guidebooks, especially for autistic children, are available online”.
The www.solidaires-handicaps.fr platform gathers all initiatives from local associations to help people look for help near their confinement places.
Sophie Cluzel recalls that the government also relieved confinement measures for people with disabilities.
New measures to guarantee an access to care:
“For the most fragile people, especially people with disabilities or suffering from chronic diseases, (…), we must guarantee cares despite the current crisis situation” Olivier Véran says.
The minister also announces the implementation of mobile collection teams in facilities to test people helped and staff more easily. So, people performing tests are the ones moving to the facilities and not the other way around.
He also announces the “mobilization and reorientation of professionals from the 34 consultation centers devoted to handicap such as handiconsult and handisoins, in expertise and support for facilities facing suspicious or confirmed Covid-19 cases”.
Everything is done to massively deploy remote-medicine, remote-expertise, remote-follow-up solutions in addition to volunteer calls, especially thanks to the jeveuxaider.gouv.fr - Réserve Civique Covid-19 platform.
To make sure paramedics can work while taking into account the fragilities of every kind of handicap, Olivier Véran announces to set up “cards about reflexes creates with associations and federations” that should be passed on between centers. “Over time, we should tend towards a system in which each paramedic center, a regulatory doctor will also be a handicap specialist”.
“In case of hospitalization, the presence of a professional or family helper for the disabled person will have to be exceptionally considered and on very strict safety conditions when the health facility is not able to help”. This is a measure that will be very hard to set up but that is vital. “It’s necessary so that we can adapt to the needs of our fellow citizens with disabilities”.
