Handicaps Guides
Here you will find the portal to guides specific to certain disabilities
A few numbers to start
Disability is a condition that affects us all directly or indirectly.
In fact, 20% of the population has a disability.
Surprising! 80% of disabilities are invisible. Often we don’t see them, but they can prove to be a daily challenge.
Concretely, what is a handicap?
It is the inability of a person to live and act in his environment due to physical, mental or sensory impairments. Most of the time, it results in difficulty in moving, expressing or understanding in the affected person.
Disability, a multitude of conditions
The handicap is much larger than you think. It groups together hundreds of conditions that can be grouped into 6 categories:
Physical disability
Partial or total impairment of motor skills
Visual impairment
Visually impaired and blind people
Hearing impairment
Deaf and hard of hearing people
Psychic handicap
Mental, affective and emotional disorders
DYS disorders
Written, oral or intellectual learning disabilities
Disabling diseases
Respiratory, digestive, infectious diseases
If we want to talk about disability, we must understand it in its plurality. Each condition is specific: it has its challenges and its strengths.
Perception of disability
Disability, even if it is invisible or light (in appearance), can be very hard to bear. The negative emotions or feelings linked to disability influence many choices in the personal and professional life of people with disabilities. They are not noticeable, but they are real, because it is often accepted that being disabled limits.
A different condition frequently involves 2 emotions: laughter and pity. It is accepted that a disabled person has a more difficult life than others. She will find it difficult to develop professionally and personally compared to a non-disabled person.
It is to overcome these perceptions that we believe it is important to act.
The received ideas that we would like to overcome
– The handicap does not necessarily have to be treated (to go towards full validity), it can also be accepted. It is often difficult to come out with a disability, especially when we do not know the people. However, in a professional context, talking about disability will allow people to get to know you. Even though the disability is invisible, it can be felt one way or another. Talking about it also avoids interpretations.
– Disability is not a source of inspiration, it is a condition with which we learn to live in order to achieve our dreams. It is a condition that is outside the norm, such as a single parent, a homosexual person or a Marseillais with a strong accent.
– Disability does not only concern the person with a disability, it is a two-way relationship. There is the way in which the person with a disability considers himself, and the way in which the interlocutor (who does not have this handicap), considers him. If we have low self-esteem, it will show. If we have low esteem for the person we’re talking to, it will show
– The real limiting factor is not disability. It’s the way we experience it. Disability poses real barriers. We have 2 choices, think that it is up to others to make the effort for us, or that it is up to us to redouble our efforts to get there. Obviously, this is the second position that must be chosen.
– Disability is not just a constraint, it also has its own strengths.
Our ambition
Our ambition within Handicapossible is to make simple and comprehensive information on disability accessible to everyone, by talking about disability in general, but also the specificities of each of the families. Disability is a condition of life like any other. However, disability is still too taboo compared to other subjects such as divorce, homosexuality or geographic diversity. We want to be able to lift the veil of ignorance about disability in order to allow employers to benefit from a pool of extraordinary skills, and people with disabilities, to follow their dreams and live the life they deserve.