The government presented, Wednesday February 18, an “action plan” qwhich reaffirms the right of people with disabilities to have a sexual and emotional life and which clarifies the issue for professionals.
Announced by Emmanuel Macron for the end of 2023, the 2026-2027 action plan for the intimate, emotional and sexual lives of people with disabilities is broken down into four main areas : the promotion of respect for intimate, emotional and sexual life; equal access to sexual and reproductive health and emotional life; prevention, detection of violence and support for disabled people (victims and perpetrators); and the evolution of professional and institutional practices. To guarantee lasting mobilization, it also provides for the creation of a group of experts which will involve the High Authority for Health.
Fight against violence
The Intimagir* resource centers will deliver “a national base of reliable awareness and training tools ” Who “can be used anywhere » on the territory. While women with disabilities are twice as likely as others to be affected by sexual violence, checks on the criminal records of professionals who work with people with disabilities will be put in place. It will concern, by June 2027, establishments and services for children with disabilities, then subsequently – before June 2028 – those which welcome adults, says the ministry.
The still open question of sexual assistance
The government’s roadmap must allow equal access to sexual and reproductive health, but also to emotional life. By 2027, the roadmap intends to generalize the Handigynéco approach within medical-social establishments and services (ESMS), but also at home, through an assessment of additional needs. The plan does not, however, resolve the question of sexual assistance for people with disabilities, but intends to “ develop professional and institutional practices to allow intimacy, emotional and sexual life and fight against sexual violence“. On this last aspect, a guide for professionals will be produced to “allow establishments to make private spaces conducive to intimate and sexual life“, according to the ministry and “all professionals working with people with disabilities will be trained”.
In a note published at the beginning of 2025, the High Authority for Health reported “significant difficulties” regarding support for the intimate, active and sexual lives of people with disabilities. She particularly pointed out the fact that this dimension was “often denied, perceived as non-existent” or leading “to undesirable consequences such as unexpected pregnancies, gender-based and sexual violence, sexually transmitted infections and even abuse”.
Transform practices
The fourth axis of the plan finally aims to transform institutional practices by making intimate, emotional and sexual life a fundamental and enforceable right within medical-social establishments and services. The government therefore plans to make the current directives binding by compulsorily integrating them into establishment projects, while equipping the inspection missions of regional health agencies to monitor their actual application. Finally, this paradigm shift is based on a vast training effort: from 2026, these themes will be integrated into the standards of social work professions and will be the subject of reinforced training modules for all health, education and child protection professionals.
*Launched in 2019 and present in each region, the INTIMAGIR resource centers listen, inform and guide people with disabilities on: intimate, emotional and sexual life; parenthood; gender-based and sexual violence.
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