INVESTIGATION. Why are there so few people with disabilities in politics?

At the National Assembly, elected officials marvel at the gilding, red velvet and frescoes by Eugène Delacroix that adorn the library. José Beaurain, he gets drunk on“a magnificent smell of waxed wood”. This piano tuner, now deputy for Aisne, is blind. This elected member of the National Rally (RN) is one of three parliamentarians with disabilities, visible or declared, who joined the Palais Bourbon after the legislative elections.

During the previous mandate, only one deputy was disabled: Damien Abad. Suffering from a rare congenital neuromuscular disease, the elected representative of Ain sat on the benches of the Republicans. Despite accusations of rape, he was re-elected in the 5th district of the department and migrated to the first ranks reserved for members of the government, as Minister of Solidarity.

A few armchairs further to the left, seat Sébastien Peytavie, freshly elected in the Dordogne under the colors of Nupes and paraplegic since the age of 3 years. Work has been launched to allow him to sit at the bottom of the hemicycle in a wheelchair. Unheard of in the history of the Fifth Republic.

Is France catching up on the inclusion of disabled people in political life? Without counting those who would not have made public an invisible handicap, the three current elected representatives represent only 0.5% of the 577 deputies. Far from the share of people with disabilities in society as a whole: up to 16% of the population, according to INSEE. This under-representation is just as glaring at regional, departmental and local level.

This phenomenon certainly does not come from a lack of interest in public affairs, immediately proclaims sociologist Pierre-Yves Baudot, teacher-researcher at Paris Dauphine University: “When they are registered on the electoral lists, people with disabilities vote in identical proportions to the rest of the population, while going to vote often requires incredible effort from them.”

However, “people with disabilities are very angry with society”, advances Sébastien Allix, president of the SOS Handicap association, in Ille-et-Vilaine. Suffering from dyspraxia, this 27-year-old candidate presented himself for the first time during these legislative elections. He felt “tired of not being heard by elected officials”but also disappointed with the lack of collective mobilization of people with disabilities.

“People with disabilities are tired of having obstacles in the way all day long. This does not make them want to get involved.”

Sébastien Allix, ex-candidate for the legislative elections

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Some, tempted by political involvement, sometimes hesitate to take the plunge. “An elected official pushed me to startillustrates MP Sébastien Peytavie. I did not necessarily feel legitimate in my chair, from the depths of the Dordogne, without having studied at Sciences Po.” His counterpart José Beaurain evokes a “apprehension that we can have of a world that does not seem ours”. To the point that some give up. Unhappy LREM candidate for the legislative elections in Paris, Yanis Bacha quotes “self-censorship” as the primary factor in the political under-representation of people with disabilities.

“At the last municipal elections, I know some who gave up just before the lists were tabled. They did not feel capable of it and they were afraid of being presumed incompetent.”

Yanis Bacha, former legislative candidate

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Once launched into militant life, people with disabilities must find their bearings in a universe that has long functioned without them. “The political field is punctuated by inequalities of access which constitute a process of segregation. It costs more to people with disabilities to be able to achieve a career”advances sociologist Cyril Desjeux, scientific director of the Handéo association, author of a report on the subject in 2021.

The researcher notes, for example, the case of people with autism, put in difficulty because of their hypersensitivity: “Poorly soundproofed rooms, or rooms with feedback, or too bright, can compromise the ability of these people to participate.” Another example: even if some meetings are accessible to people who are deaf or hard of hearing, these “miss informal exchanges and negotiation times”.

The timing of the election campaign is often revealing. Sébastien Peytavie had to host his first public meeting outside, due to lack of access to the reserved area. “The worst was the door-to-door”says Yanis Bacha, who campaigned on the slogan “I ride with Yanis”. “In the old buildings or in the small cobbled streets, you are beaten in advancehe testifies. You know your campaign is only going to be half done.”

It is also necessary to confront the ignorance of the handicap, even with the hostility, with the discriminations of the elected officials and the parties. “In contact with the public, I have never been confronted with tendentious remarks or a questioning of my abilities”remarks Matthieu Annereau, LREM municipal councilor in Saint-Herblain (Loire-Atlantique). “But in the local political class, I was treated to ‘A blind candidate, and why not a goat?’ or ‘Monsieur Annereau plays with his handicap’.”

José Beaurain, too, says he was confronted with the conservatism of the political world. A municipal councilor since 2014 in Chauny (Aisne), he took the lead of an RN list in 2020 to run for mayor. “Some political opponents then threw at me: ‘Even not mayor… Can’t you see, you can’t be mayor’. For them, having a disabled elected official is not a problem, as long as he is in a supporting role. He took his revenge in the legislative elections, under a slogan of circumstance: “The main thing is not to see you, but to hear you.”

So how can we open the doors of the hemicycles more to people with disabilities? Two major proposals emerge, starting with the creation of a national fund to allow each elected official or candidate to benefit from compensation for his disability, as already exists in the world of work. At present, those who commit are often dependent on the good will of their executive or their party to obtain suitable technical tools, facilities or human resources.

The issue is particularly sensitive for elected opposition members, placed in a relationship of dependence vis-à-vis the majority in power. This is the case of Odile Maurin, municipal councilor in Toulouse since 2020. This elected representative on the left is autistic and suffers from a rare genetic disease, which limits her movements and requires an electric wheelchair. “I have slowness and concentration problems that need to be compensated by human help”describes this activist.

“I am no less capable than the others, but everything takes me four times as long.”

Odile Maurin, municipal councilor in Toulouse

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Engaged in a standoff with the local right to obtain more resources, she currently benefits from assistance for meeting times, but not to work on her files. “To be able to follow, I am forced to devote 80% of my elected income to paying an assistant”she complains.

“I have also been digging into my savings for two years and I have the impression that people are trying to asphyxiate me financially. Everything is done to push me to resign.”

Odile Maurin, municipal councilor in Toulouse

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The other major proposal, less consensual, is to impose on parties the presence of candidates with disabilities during elections, as for gender parity. “We could imagine a quota of 6%, to stick to the figure retained for people with disabilities in the professional world”even if this is far from being achieved in practice (3.5%), defends Matthieu Annereau, who carries this measure as president of the Association for the consideration of disability in public policies and private.

As early as 2017, the Council of Europe called on member states to “consider” the establishment of such quotas. The question still divides. “It would piss me off if someone said to me: ‘You are a candidate because you are disabled'”dismisses Yanis Bacha. “If it’s to find yourself like in companies, where you select the disabilities that require the least adaptations, no thank you”warns Odile Maurin.

While waiting for legislative progress, the force of example could change mentalities. “The person with a disability is still too often perceived as assisted and not as a resource person”deplores Virginie Cronier, municipal councilor in Caen (Calvados) and president of the association Les Elected deaf.

“In the political world, there is this cliché of the man of power, in good health, without fragility. A minister with an invisible disability told me that he was hiding his situation because of that.”

Matthieu Annereau, municipal councilor in Saint-Herblain

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In the National Assembly, the new deputies concerned know that part of the solution lies in their hands. Vocations may arise from their journey. “My greatest pride would be that at the end of this mandate, no one, valid or not, wonders about the ability of people with disabilities to exercise a mandate”assures José Beaurain. “Opening people’s eyes, for a blind person, would be something quite extraordinary.”


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