Promoting the economic autonomy of disabled people through employment and social policy (PRESPOL)

Project holder: 

• Anne Revillard (CRIS, LIEPP)

Research programme developed in association with the CERAPS, the EHESP, ERUDITE and the LISE. Laureate of the PPR Autonomie 2022. The project benefits from support of the French State managed by the ANR under the France 2030 programme (ANR-23-PAVH-0001).

Project description: 

How to promote the economic autonomy of people with disabilities? Moving from a medical vision of disability to a socio-political perspective of inclusion and disability mainstreaming implies rethinking the issue of autonomy for people with disabilities, no longer only in terms of functional autonomy, but in terms applied to all citizens. This notably includes economic autonomy, for which employment is an essential lever. 

In France, as in many other countries, many policies have been put in place over the years to promote the professional integration of disabled people: rehabilitation, quotas, sheltered work, job placement, anti-discrimination law... This integration however remains incomplete, with an employment rate that remains well below that of the general population, a concentration in low-status and low-paying jobs, frequent part-time work, and unstimulating functions or tasks. Employment, under these conditions, struggles to fulfil its role as a vector of economic autonomy, and compensatory social policies (through assistance or socialised insurance) play a determining role.

Improving the policies that favour the economic autonomy of people with disabilities is therefore a major democratic challenge, with a view to promoting their economic and social citizenship, and in accordance with the objectives set by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). To this end, PRESPOL articulates three approaches that respond to challenges 3 and 4 of the call for projects.

First, we propose to develop an original theoretical framework to account for these economic empowerment policies in their specificity, beyond the dichotomy between employment and social policies. To do so, we will draw on the international scientific literature on employment policies, welfare regimes and social investment, but also on a comparison of existing policies and on a targeted investigation of the boundary between employment and social policies (WP1).  

In parallel, the experiences of empowerment or non-empowerment through employment need to be analysed and better understood (WP2, in response to Challenge 3). What are the nature of the barriers to labour access and economic empowerment through employment for people with disabilities? What are the characteristics of employment trajectories (including periods out of work), in both their objective and subjective dimensions? What is the extent of discrimination and what are its mechanisms?

Finally, we propose to carry out a targeted and systematic evaluation of two central employment policy measures in order to identify ways of improving their effectiveness (WP3). In the context of challenge 4, we will focus on an innovative intervention in this field, supported employment, which aims to promote the empowerment in and through employment of people with cognitive or psychiatric disabilities. But we will also assess a much older policy, predominant in France as in several other countries: the employment quota policy.

To this end, this programme is based on an interdisciplinary, multi-method and participatory approach (involving over 20 disability organisations and institutional partners). The constitution of a consortium bringing together five research entities in France (LIEPP, CERAPS, EHESP, ERUDITE, LISE), and mobilising several international collaborations (United States, United Kingdom, Sweden, South Africa), extends several research initiatives launched by these entities, systematising the approach and extending its ambition. Stakeholders’ participation and substantial resources devoted to knowledge brokering at each stage of PRESPOL aim to favour a rapid impact of the programme on policies and society.