France: “autism plans” follow one another but families are still waiting
A member of the association Vaincre l'Autisme, in Paris in April 2016 (illustration).
Elliott VERDIER / AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
This Friday April 2 marks World Autism Awareness Day.
Despite the various "autism plans" of successive governments since 2005, France is still at the back of the pack in terms of taking charge of this handicap.
Today, the Macron government's fourth autism plan does not respond to requests from parents' associations.
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It is very complicated to educate a child with
autism
in France
because there is no specific care.
The High Authority for Health (HAS) recommends that the professionals of the medical-educational centers be trained, but the reality does not follow and many children are sent to Belgium, the country where the reception structures operate.
In question, the 344 million euros allocated over five years by the fourth autism plan, which concerns all neurodevelopmental disorders, of which autism represents only 1%.
For a real public health policy
So what to do?
M'hamed Sajidi, president of the Parents Association Vaincre l'Autisme.
“
The first thing is that we have to do epidemiological studies,” he
explains.
It is not possible that France, the fifth world power, is not able to know how to do a study to find out how many autistic people there are.
The second thing is to make a real public health policy for the screening of autism, the diagnosis of autism and the appropriate care, especially early.
And the third point is to be able to put coercive measures in order to be able to apply the recommendations of the health authorities, and the last is to have a new law that will recognize autism and its peculiarities, while preserving the common rights of these people like any citizen.
You should know that today, children and autistic people do not have the rule of law in our country because we do not recognize this particularity.
"
Beyond words, autistic people and their families expect real action from the government.
Emmanuel Macron is in Isère this Friday on the occasion of World Autism Awareness Day.
Accompanied by the Secretary of State for Disabled People, Sophie Cluzel, and the Interministerial Delegate for Autism, Claire Compagnon, he must visit a platform for the identification and treatment of this neurodevelopmental disorder, one of the first installed in the territory.
The creation of these structures was one of the flagship measures of the “autism strategy” launched in April 2018 for five years by the former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe.
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