National conference on disability: Emmanuel Macron announces a new strategy for autism

The President of the Republic spoke on Friday, at the end of this meeting organized every three years. Before leaving office, he intends to "open a new stage of a fully accessible society", according to the Elysée.

Emmanuel Macron spoke on Friday September 4 at the National Conference on Disability (CNH) which was held at the Metropolitan Sports Inclusive Reference Center (Prisme) in Bobigny (Seine-Saint-Denis). “At the end of this year, we will launch work on a new national strategy for autism and neurodevelopmental disorders,” announced the Head of State, closing this meeting organized every three years to set the course for public policies on disability. It will have three objectives: “Better identify and support from an early age”, “strengthen responses for adolescents and adults”, and, finally, “provide better responses to complex situations”.

Around sixty measures revealed. The executive is preparing to unveil 65 measures structured around "16 commitments which will be made by the President of the Republic" a few months before the end of his mandate, the Elysée announced. Stated objective: “Open a new stage of a fully accessible society”, “where everyone can go to school, study, work, travel, find accommodation, access healthcare, access culture, sport, under the same conditions as others”.

A contrasting assessment for Emmanuel Macron. After almost ten years in power, the Head of State has several reforms to his credit, including that of full reimbursement for wheelchairs, promised during the CNH 2023 and coming into force at the end of 2025. "The results are there", with "more than 280,000" beneficiaries, welcomes the Elysée, which also praises progress on inclusion in school, university and even in the world of work. But the associations deplore insufficient efforts, particularly in terms of accessibility to places open to the public and online public services. “The lives of disabled people are not fundamentally better,” summarizes the Handicaps collective.

An unmissable event for twenty years. The CNH was created by the 2005 law on disability “in order to debate the directions and means of policy concerning disabled people”. It was created in 2006 and is in its seventh edition, the third under the presidency of Emmanuel Macron. Initially scheduled for June 25, this CNH 2026 was postponed until the start of the school year due to the heatwave at the beginning of summer, "in order to guarantee the full participation of each and everyone in the best conditions".