Supporting people with disabilities during training is essential, not only for your organization and maintaining your certifications, but also and above all to provide beneficiaries with the best possible service.
Summary:
- Definition
- Obligations of training organizations
- Qualiopi and taking disability into account
- Taking into account people with disabilities when you are/want to become a certification body
- How to prepare to welcome people with disabilities
- The disability representative
- Actors who can support people with disabilities
- the specificities of training for people with disabilities
Definition
The term “disability” received its current definition in the 1960s in order to bring together several terms referring to incapacities (“unsuitable”, “invalid”, “crippled”, “mutilated”); and its legal definition was established by the law of February 11, 2005.
A disability is any limitation of activity or restriction of participation in social life suffered in their environment by a person due to a substantial, lasting or permanent impairment of one or more physical, sensory, mental, cognitive or psychological functions, a multiple disability or a disabling health disorder.
Law of February 11, 2005, art. 14.
Obligations of training organizations
Training organizations and CFAs must be accessible. This means that material and human resources must be implemented to allow everyone to benefit from a training action. This can be translated into physical access to the premises, the provision of clear information on possible adaptations for people with disabilities, or even awareness-raising among staff, learners and companies.
To make your organization accessible, you can work with disability specialists, the disability representative of your organization, but also and above all with the person themselves. If the adaptations are costly and require the implementation of compensation means (provision of specific equipment, support by human assistance, etc.), Agefiph can intervene and offer financing.
Also consider making your assessments accessible, by providing suitable arrangements. This is all the more important if you are or wish to become a certification body.
Qualiopi and taking disability into account
Furthermore, to benefit from public and mutual funds, you must be Qualiopi certified. To obtain and especially maintain Qualiopi, taking into account people with disabilities is essential. This consideration affects all criteria and is transversal.
- Criterion 1: You must disseminate information on accessibility for people with disabilities. This must allow the person to identify the requirements and conditions of the training, and reassure them about the attention that will be paid to their difficulties. Your communication materials must therefore be precise, invite people with disabilities to report themselves and highlight your commitments in terms of reception. You can also have a specific welcome booklet, integrate a disability criterion into your monitoring indicators and raise awareness among those responsible for welcoming the public.
- Criterion 2: You must take into account disability situations and compensation needs in order to design suitable contexts and content and to best identify the needs of beneficiaries. Your materials and tools must be designed with accessibility in mind, and you can provide them in several formats (paper, electronic, recording, etc.) in order to facilitate access and adaptation. Your premises must meet accessibility standards, or you must check the accessibility of the premises if the training is in-house.
- Criterion 3: You must be able to identify difficulties and propose compensation solutions. You can design processes, identify the resource people who support the person, or propose a co-analysis of needs and responses.
- Criterion 4: You must have a disability contact.
- Criterion 5: You must enable and promote the development of skills in taking into account the needs of people with disabilities. You can raise awareness among your teams, the disability representative can capitalize on the situations encountered and the solutions, organize sharing times, etc.
- Criterion 6: You must mobilize the expertise, tools and networks necessary to welcome, support, train or redirect people with disabilities. You must therefore promote the development of an inclusive approach and have expert resources. You can participate in information meetings, have a list of resource people, know how to mobilize the Disability Training Resource, know about support services, etc.
- Criterion 7: You must have elements to objectify the conditions of reception and training of people with disabilities, and register in a process of continuous improvement. You can provide in your monitoring tools the identification of people with disabilities and explain the reasons for this monitoring in order to show them the interest in reporting themselves.
Taking into account people with disabilities in certification engineering
If you have – or wish to file – a certification with France Compétences, whether at the RS or RNCP, it is essential to ensure that your certification takes into account people with disabilities.
You will indeed have to prove that you take into account the disability in various situations, and in particular that you have thought about how you could adapt your training and your assessment methods. If the skill (RS) or the profession (RNCP) cannot be compensated and is therefore inaccessible to people with a specific disability, this will also have to be mentioned.
Consideration of people with disabilities must be included in your certification framework, your certification regulations and in your registration application (for the RNCP only). You will need to provide specific examples of real or likely situations and the compensation provided.
How to prepare to welcome people with disabilities
To be able to accommodate a trainee with a disability, there are a certain number of good practices that can be put in place.
First of all, it is important to set up a disability advisor. This advisor can then follow training in order to learn about support systems, support structures, and advise and train employees.
It is also essential to create a network. That is to say, you must identify the people and organizations likely to help people with disabilities, and contact them if necessary. If your organization cannot support a trainee with a disability, you must also be able to redirect them to suitable structures that can do so. These structures and partners, such as Cap Emploi or Agefiph, must be accessible to the public; for example, you can indicate the list on your website. Remember to check if there are local or regional actors.
It is also essential to build a solid relationship to support people in their career path, particularly because of the stigma and codifications that push people with disabilities to minimize or hide their difficulties. The beneficiary must feel confident with their trainer and within the structure.
If you feel that you can take charge of the trainee, it is your duty to assess and propose the necessary adjustments for their learning. The government has produced a brochure that lists some good practices to adopt depending on the type of disability. This brochure is of course not to be followed to the letter, but to be adapted in collaboration with the trainee.
The disability representative
This is a single point of contact that allows for the proper support of PSH. Following specific training is recommended, and a specific amount of time must be allocated to the mission (without necessarily being full-time). It must adapt to the type of establishment and its specificities, which is why there is no standard job description. However, certain missions are common in most structures:
- Manage the support project, build an action plan, set up monitoring indicators, follow the agreement with the FIPHFP
- Mobilize stakeholders, work in networks and develop partnerships
- Implement staff training and awareness-raising actions
- Inform about aid
There are training courses leading to qualifications for disability representatives. In short, this is the person who will mobilize the stakeholders if necessary, and who will provide personalized support through adjustments.
The disability representative can request support from Disability Training Resources to support them in developing the accessibility of their training center, and to better take into account compensation needs.
Actors who can support people with disabilities
There are a number of organizations dedicated to supporting people with disabilities.
- AGEFIPH proposes in particular to help to adapt training (disability resource service), contacts and resources to help training organizations welcome PSH, resources for training organizations & to prepare specific qualiopi indicators. All these resources can be found here
- Handi-Pacts: present in each region, it is a relay of information to exchange and share experiences, and develop a network.
- THE FIPHFP finances in particular the training of disabled workers AND the training of personnel likely to be in contact with disabled workers. It is particularly interested in civil service workers.
- Employment Cap offers personalized and adapted support for people with disabilities
- There MDPH is the body that issues administrative recognition that allows access to specific aid. It also offers beneficiaries aid for their professional orientation and/or professional training.
This list is of course not exhaustive.
The specificities of training people with disabilities
When training people with disabilities, you need to be aware of a few things that differ from typical training.
Regarding apprenticeships: there is no age limit for PSHs. A person with a disability can be an apprentice during a retraining, for example. In addition, apprenticeships can last 4 years, compared to the usual three.
In terms of financing:
- The CPF for PSH is limited to an additional contribution of €800/year, instead of €500 for other beneficiaries.
- In addition, it is possible to obtain funding from Agefiph, OPCOs, Pôle Emploi. You can therefore direct the beneficiary to these organizations.
- The disability representative of an OF, CFA or VAE center can request assistance for the adaptation of training situations (2ASF) from Agefiph. This assistance makes it possible to secure the training course by adapting it. The amount of assistance depends on the analysis of the need for compensation and is therefore assessed on a case-by-case basis.