This Wednesday, May 31, Georgio Loiseau emerges from a meeting with deputies at the Palais-Bourbon wiping his brow, tired but determined. For his son with autism, the mayor (without label) of Poses (Eure), a town of 1,162 inhabitants, is ready to fight body and soul. What he proved by starting a hunger strike three days earlier after learning that Elyes, his 11-year-old son, would not have a place in a medical-educational institute (IME) at the start of the 2023 school year. Due to his age, the boy is supposed to leave the elementary autism teaching unit (UEAE) created by his father in 2018 at the end of the year.
The chosen one has been engaged for several years so that autism is better taken care of. In 2015, he founded an association, L’Oiseau bleu, to raise awareness of autism and help families. Beyond the case of Elyes, the city councilor wants with his hunger strike to lead a global fight. “I don’t worry too much about my son, but I carry thousands of families with me,” he assures. He says he has received testimonies from all over France since Monday. A video posted on social networks, Wednesday, May 24, in which he denounces the shortcomings of public policies on disability, has 92,000 views on Facebook.
“It has been ten years since the public authorities made promises to us, without anything happening”, deplores the mayor of Poses. In these eyes, the official figures hide a complex reality: “They say that 430,000 disabled children are in school, but that’s not true. They have a schooling modality, which can translate into one hour per day or per week. » A situation explained, in part, by the lack of specialized personnel. In 2022, 40 positions for accompanying students with disabilities (AESH) were to be filled in the Eure department, he says.
This lack of care has a direct impact on families, according to Georgio Loiseau: “The return home [faute de place en établissement spécialisé] often means stopping the social and professional life of caregivers. » According to the Department of Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics, 21% of mothers who receive the education allowance for disabled children do not work in order to take care of their child, i.e. 2.5 times more than the other mothers. The mayor of Poses evokes several cases of homes in distress. “I spoke with a family ready to have their parental rights revoked so that their child could be entrusted to child welfare and have a better chance of obtaining a place in an establishment”relates the chosen one.
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