Although a 1957 law had for the first time used the term “disabled worker”, instituted priority employment (10% in theory) and defined sheltered work, it is the law of 30 June 1975, presented by Simone Veil, Minister of Health, which is the reference text creating public policy on disability.

Indeed, this orientation law (n° 75-534) clearly defines 3 fundamental rights for disabled people, children and adults:

• the right to work
• the right to a minimum guarantee of resources through benefits
• the right to educational and social integration.

It introduced an obligation to employ disabled workers (OETH) for all employers, including public employers, with twenty or more employees, in the proportion of 6% of the total workforce. Private employers have the option of fulfilling this obligation by paying an annual contribution to the national association for the management of the fund for the professional integration of disabled people (AGEFIPH), whose statutes were approved by the State in 1988.

It is the main text on the rights of people with disabilities since the 1975 law. It is the “disability” law. The very first lines of the law recall the fundamental rights of disabled people and give a definition of disability:

“Constitutes a disability, within the meaning of the present law, any limitation of activity or restriction of participation in life in society suffered in his environment by a person due to a substantial, lasting or definitive alteration of one or more physical, sensory, mental, cognitive or psychic functions, a multiple disability or a disabling health disorder.”

It links the objective of access to common law with the right to compensation in order to promote access to autonomy for people with disabilities.

The law makes numerous advances in the following areas:

• Reception of people with disabilities
• The right to compensation
• Resources
• Education
• Employment
• Accessibility
• Citizenship and participation in social life

It creates a Maison départementale des personnes handicapées (MDPH, meaning Departmental House for the Disabled) in each department under the direction of the Conseil général. It is a one-stop shop. Its mission is to receive, inform, support and advise disabled people and their families, and to raise awareness of disability among all citizens.

The COTOREP and CDES have also been replaced by the Commission for the Rights and Autonomy of Disabled Persons (CDAPH), which takes decisions on all the rights of the person within the MDPH.

Some details of the law: 

The law sets out obligations to meet accessibility standards, particularly for public establishments.

It also introduced two new supplements to the Allocation Adulte Handicapé (AAH): the complement of resources and the increase for independent living.

The law promotes the employment of disabled workers in the civil service. In addition to the application of the principle of non-discrimination, the general status of the civil service is modified to take into account the particular difficulties of access to employment for disabled workers: modernisation of recruitment by contract, lowering or elimination of age limits for taking competitive examinations, creation of part-time work as of right, implementation of flexible working hours for disabled civil servants or family ‘carers’. The law creates a fund for professional integration in the civil service (FIPHFP), which will be financed by contributions from ministries, local authorities and public hospitals that do not meet the 6% employment requirement for disabled workers

Guarantees equal opportunities for disabled candidates and other candidates by giving a legal basis to the adaptation of examination conditions

It has encouraged the development of a dynamic for students with disabilities in all institutions. It provides for the creation of a real reception service and a person in charge dedicated to this reception and, above all, it commits the university to participate in an evaluation of the student’s needs in a study situation and in the implementation of an aid and adaptation plan to re-establish equality of opportunity with his or her able-bodied peers, in conjunction with the MDPH. The signing of this Charter commits the universities to an irreversible process for all matters concerning the reception of and assistance to disabled students. Its implementation will involve the development of new mechanisms and collective actions for disabled students.

(Art 2: creation of a structure dedicated to the reception of students with disabilities)

The 2012 charter aims to identify the main actors specialised in the social and professional integration of students with disabilities. They need to be more visible to universities in order to work together for the success of students. Four components:

• the consolidation of reception arrangements and the development of support processes for students with disabilities throughout the university curriculum and towards professional integration
• the development of human resources policies for people with disabilities
• increasing the coherence and clarity of training and research in the field of disability
• developing the accessibility of services offered by institutions

It provides for the establishment of a multi-annual master plan for disability policy, covering all the areas concerned by disability, and which must define the objectives that the University is pursuing in order to meet the employment obligation.

• Art L. 123-4 and L. 123-4-1 (excerpt: Higher education institutions enrol disabled students or students with a disabling health problem, within the framework of the provisions regulating their access in the same way as other students, and ensure their training by implementing the adjustments necessary for their situation in the organisation, progress and support of their studies).
• Art D613-26 to D613-30 (excerpt: Candidates for examinations or competitions in higher education organised by the minister in charge of higher education or by the minister in charge of culture who have a disability may benefit from adjustments relating to :
  1. The conditions under which the tests are held, to enable them to benefit from material conditions as well as technical and human assistance appropriate to their situation;
  2. An increase in the time allowed for one or more tests, which may not exceed one third of the time normally allowed for each test. However, this increase may be extended, in view of the candidate’s exceptional situation, on the basis of a reasoned request from the doctor and included in the notice mentioned in Article D. 613-27;
  3. The retention, for five years, of marks for tests or units obtained in the examination or competition as well as, where applicable, the benefit of knowledge obtained within the framework of the procedure for validating knowledge gained from experience set out in section 2 of this chapter;
  4. The spreading of the tests over several sessions;
  5. Adaptations to or exemptions from tests, made necessary by certain disability situations, under the conditions laid down by order of the minister responsible for higher education, the minister responsible for culture or the president or director of the establishment.)

• Art L112-1 to L112-5 (excerpt: To guarantee equal opportunities for all candidates, adjustments to the conditions for taking oral, written and practical tests or continuous assessment in school and higher education examinations or competitions, made necessary by a disability or disabling health disorder, are provided for by decree. These arrangements may include, in particular, the granting of additional time and its inclusion in the course of the tests, the presence of an assistant, an adapted communication device, the provision of adapted equipment or the use by the candidate of his or her own personal equipment.)