Inclusion

Because disabled people are people like everyone else, they should have the same rights as everyone else. Yet in developing countries, 98% of disabled children do not attend school and 80% of disabled people live on less than €1 a day! Our main concern is to enable disabled people to live as full citizens with their families and in their communities, thus facilitating equal opportunities. In order to achieve our aim, Handicap International's teams work to give disabled people full access to professional, social, educational, civic and cultural activities.

Economic inclusion

For disabled people, employment is an important way of gaining independence and recognition from their families and communities as well as providing them with an income. Handicap International facilitates the professional inclusion of disabled people, who are often excluded and have no financial resources, into the local socio-economic fabric by supporting individual and group projects (developing agricultural work in a village, setting-up a bicycle repair workshop etc.) and by facilitating access to bank loans. We also raise awareness amongst local and foreign businesses about employing disabled people.

Inclusive education

Handicap International promotes access to adapted education in accordance with disabled children's needs in order to provide them with similar opportunities to those which non-disabled children have. We support specialized structures (schools for mentally disabled children, for example) as well as the creation of integrated classes (classes for disabled children within mainstream schools) and individual inclusion into mainstream education.

Inclusive education and economic inclusion are not enough by themselves to fully integrate disabled people into their communities. Access to information and leisure activities as well as the accessibility of buildings and infrastructures are also important. That is why Handicap International trains and informs political decisions makers and professionals (architects, town planners etc.) so that they are fully aware of the importance of physical accessibility and that is also why we support the organization of sports and cultural events.

An accessible environment

Persons with disabilities need to be able to enter and move around their homes and nearby public spaces and buildings (polling stations, schools, sports grounds, health centres, etc). An accessible environment also benefits persons with reduced mobility (children, the elderly, etc). A world of equal opportunities also needs to be a world that's accessible to everyone. Handicap International therefore promotes actions to improve the accessibility of the physical environment by performing awareness actions, providing training and technical advice, and performing accessibility initiatives in conjunction with disabled people's representatives.

Opening up towns and cities to disability

Based on partnerships with local authorities with decentralised agencies, and often by providing support to local disabled people's associations, the general aim of Town & Disability projects is to promote the greater inclusion of people with disabilities in towns and cities.
These projects are centred on awareness and training for local operators to ensure they include disability within their activities; the implementation of new local services; greater accessibility; and greater consultation between local authorities and associations.
Launched two years ago, the first projects are underway in Morocco, Nicaragua, Madagascar and Burkina Faso.

Social work, family and community life

Everyone needs encouragement from others to build their lives, self-esteem and dignity.
People with disabilities rarely have access to this encouragement.
The association has therefore decided to promote the social participation of people with disabilities and to give them the resources to become stakeholders within their communities. It supports projects that aim to strengthen the self-confidence and social relationships of people with disabilities. It is also involved in awareness and support projects for families with a disabled relative* to “help them to help” a family member play a role within their family and community; it also helps implement collective disability management systems by promoting community-based social services and disability social policies.

^{* “relative” includes any family member}

Cultural, sporting and leisure activities

Cultural, sporting and leisure activities (CSLAs) should not discriminate in any way against any disabled person.
Responsive to each individual according to their capacities and desired level of involvement, they can be performed individually or collectively as part of the programmes developed and supported by Handicap International. They promote cross-cutting values such as solidarity, mutual assistance, social cohesion, challenging self-limitations, self-esteem, exchange and more. Our action is focused on three key areas: the community, organisation and events.
As regards the community element, our action aims to promote and develop access to CSLAs for people with disabilities (in Bangladesh); the structural element consists in providing organisational and management support to local and national sports facilities (in Morocco); lastly, we support national and international events, such as JAPHAF (Games of the Future for the Disabled People of French-speaking Africa).