STATE SCANDALS & FAILURES : THE BLACK FILES OF DISABILITY | M6 | Zone Interdite

It’s a scandal, or rather a series of scandals, that this Zone Interdite investigation into the care of the disabled in France reveals.

For over a year, a team of journalists followed the daily struggles of disabled people and their families, in their search for a place in a specialized institute or school. An unbearable reality. Lack of care facilities, chronic understaffing, unqualified staff recruited without a diploma – the system that is supposed to help the most vulnerable people to blossom and escape isolation, neglects them, even abuses them. The figures are chilling. 30,000 children and their families are left without a solution, reduced to living in isolation. There is a shortage of hundreds of thousands of carers in schools and 50,000 carers in specialized institutes. These shortcomings of the system lead to numerous abuses: physical abuse, psychological pressure, medication errors. Those who denounce them come up against the inertia of the institutions, which prefer “no waves” to transparency. But the Zone Interdite investigation doesn’t stop there. It also uncovers another scandal, this time a financial one, which could even cast a shadow over the very services of the State. Part of the aid intended for disabled people is allegedly being stolen from them…

Sandrine is an angry mother. She is raising her son Arthur, aged 7, who suffers from a severe form of autism. For years, she has been asking for a place in a specialized institute. But to no avail. The state services in charge of child guidance offer her only one solution: a few hours of schooling a week. An ordeal for the child and all her classmates.

Today’s schools, which are supposed to be “inclusive”, i.e. welcoming all children regardless of their disability, don’t really have the means to match their ambitions. We discovered the reality that is sometimes hidden from parents….

Jules, aged 7, is one of the 30,000 children left without a solution in France. Multihandicapped, the young boy has been waiting 4 years for a place in a specialized institute. In the absence of suitable care, his parents will have to send their son to an institute abroad, almost 1,000 kilometers from home…

Olivier is a whistle-blower. As a teacher at a specialized institute, he has been witnessing the deteriorating conditions at his school for years. Forced to keep silent by his management, he has now decided to break the silence by showing the parents of his pupils a video that has been kept secret until now.

Gaétan’s parents are outraged. Their 27-year-old autistic son spent several weeks between life and death due to a probable drug overdose. At the time of his hospitalization, he also had a badly fractured shoulder. For them, there was no doubt that the young man had been abused in the home where he was staying. They have taken the case to court.