“When people don’t think I’m a fool, they assume I’m drunk. As someone with cerebral palsy, I have problems with balance and speech. The nonsense I hear all day long is frightening. It’s made clear to me that it would be better if I were dead. Now, I prefer to laugh it off, stay cool; I feel like Alexandre the Blessed, the character played by Philippe Noiret, who decided not to worry anymore. It’s important for getting by. Recently, the director of a cultural center told me that it was a gift to offer me computer classes (even though I pay for them!), and that another gift was simply that I was alive. In other words, they were doing me a favor by accepting me to these classes because of my disability.” This is the testimony of Philippe Etre, from the book “Handicap: Silence, We Discriminate.”
Disability is the leading cause of discrimination in France. Denis Tacini, the departmental delegate of the APF (Association des Paralysés de France) explains: “Disabled people are victims of the way they are perceived. Two out of three French people have a pitiful view of disability. People are afraid to even touch a wheelchair.”
This realization, very hard for disabled persons to live with, has prompted the APF to organize a day to fight against this discrimination. The campaign called “Let’s Change Our View” will take place on Tuesday, October 11, throughout France. In the Alpes-Maritimes, it will be held in Cannes in front of the Town Hall from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM.
“We will distribute glasses to passers-by to look at a poster featuring a person in a wheelchair. With the glasses, the wheelchair disappears, replaced by a chair. The message is simple: the person remains the same, whether in a wheelchair or on a chair,” recounts Denis Tacini. For two hours, people with disabilities will talk about the discrimination they face and the struggles they fight every day to live like everyone else.
Despite significant legislative efforts to make all public and private buildings accessible, it’s still difficult to take a bus, go to the cinema, and even work. And this is the case here on the Côte d’Azur as well as throughout France. Denis Tacini gives specific examples: “In the Alpes-Maritimes, it is impossible for a disabled person to get married in Le Cannet, Antibes, or Menton because the town hall is not wheelchair accessible. In Nice, a young disabled person was unable to board a plane because he could not fasten his seatbelt. Another absurdity: the Garibaldi post office is not accessible to disabled people…”
To change our perspectives and stop this discrimination, a petition is available online on the APF website:
[https://www.apf.asso.fr/operations/index.php?id=22](https://www.apf.asso.fr/operations/index.php?id=22)
Vincent Trinquat
