Handitech: a sector to be structured and developed

Handitech, an industry of the future worth supporting

Among the “technical aids” reimbursed by Social Security and the French départements – around 700 million euros each year, and growing rapidly as the population ages – digital technology is becoming increasingly essential. It opens up or restores functional capabilities for all types of motor, cognitive, visual, sensory or psychological disability, enabling hundreds of thousands of people to attend school, communicate, get around, obtain information, or live out their full citizenship.

France has specific expertise in this field, with some 150 SMEs working on inclusive solutions for people with disabilities. The industry, federated within Syntec Numérique’s “Handicap et Numérique” working group, represents a generator of socio-economic wealth.

However, the development of these digital uses is hampered by the absence of a public policy dedicated to evaluating, making available, recommending and supporting these innovative solutions.

Proposals for digital inclusion for all

As part of the ongoing consultations for the national strategy for an inclusive digital future being conducted under the aegis of Mounir Mahjoubi, Secretary of State for the Digital Economy, Syntec Numérique today presented, via its working group, strong proposals to feed into a public policy on this subject:

• Creation of a true national pilot on the subject of digital technical aids under the aegis of the CNSA and the Agence du Numérique.
• A strategy to professionalize the work of recommenders (occupational therapists, orthoptists, specialized educators) and the support provided by designers.
• Consolidation of the handitech sector, with the creation of a “Handicap et Numérique” National Incubator, dedicated funding and a unified evaluation method for digital technical aids.
• Integrate digital technical aids into a genuine national strategy for the education of students with disabilities.

These proposals were discussed in the presence of MPs Adrien Taquet and Dominique David, and the entire handitech ecosystem: companies, government representatives (Ministry of Health, Agence du Numérique, CNSA, Agefiph…), user associations…

The report, which takes stock of the industry and lists proposals for strengthening it, was drawn up within the framework of the “Handicap et Numérique” working group launched by the trade organization last November. The group is made up of some forty industry players (publishers’ college), and reports to the Handicap Commissioncommission, which is already working on accessibility issues.