Unapei refuses to accept further budget cuts for persons with disabilities

From September 2015 to November 2015, Inclusion Europe UK member Mencap surveyed over 300 persons with intellectual disabilities between 18 and 35 year old in order to understand the current state of social inclusion. The results were shocking.

Unapei refuses to accept further budget cuts for persons with disabilities
   etr Unapei is a member of Inclusion Europe.

Unapei is an organisation that fights for the rights
of persons with intellectual disabilities in France.

Recently, French departments have been making
cuts to local disability funding.

This means that local associations and support
services for persons with disabilities receive less money.

Unapei does not think this is fair because persons with
intellectual disabilities will have less access to care and services.

They want action now.

Unapei has asked for a meeting between the people who control the
country’s budgets and disability associations which provide support
to persons with disabilities and defend their rights.

 

Unapei is a member of Inclusion Europe and the leading French NGO defending the rights and interests of persons with intellectual disabilities and their families. It brings together many local and regional NGOs in a combined effort to promote the inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities and their families.

Earlier this year, the French administrative department of Essonne announced not being able to continue paying social assistance for disability. Subsequently, the Northern Department has declared they plan to lower the financial assistance for the disability sector by €10 million over the course of three years. Unapei has stepped in to break this chain of events and stop any further detrimental cuts by issuing a press release calling for national intervention.

These cuts propose removing a substantial proportion of the disability budget with inevitable and significant consequences on the daily lives of the most vulnerable. Whilst appreciative of the complex financial environment the North department is facing, Unapei does not accept the notion that institutions, services and human resources providing vital support are potential financial adjustment variables.

The budget proposals threaten the EU strategy to promote smart, sustainable and inclusive growth (commonly known as Europe 2020) and challenges the French government’s commitment to the United Nations Rights of Persons with Disabilities, particularly Article 25, which states health services needed by persons with disabilities must be provided.

Unapei feels the disability sector is often the first to receive financial evaluation in times of hardship. The parents of people with disabilities do not take their daily services for granted but rely heavily on their presence. Unfortunately, those suffering at the hands of these budget cuts were not consulted on the decision.

In consideration of the serious financial difficulties many French departmental authorities are facing, Unapei has requested an urgent consultation between organisations representing people with disabilities and the national government treasury in hopes of devising policies supportive and inclusive of persons with intellectual disabilities.

To read Unapei’s press release, please click here

Our work brings the voice of people with intellectual disabilities and their families where decisions about their future are made.

This has always been incredibly important. It is even more so with the Covid pandemic drastic impact on their rights and lives.

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