The learned society Alter – European Society for Disability Research and Alter – European Journal of Disability Research, an international journal specializing in the analysis of disability situations, are fully supporting the social movement of opposition to the pension reform system bill as well as the projects of reform announced targeting higher education and research in France. They also express their support for hospital staff on strike. These movements, although centered on the current situation in France, echo other similar movements in various countries around the world, denouncing the weakening of social welfare systems and professional statuses.
We are concerned about the inequities brought about by the decline in the social welfare protection and health care systems. We point out to the fact that people with disabilities and their carers, who are totally absent from the draft bill and not consulted in the ongoing public debate, face specific situations that must be given specific consideration and are particularly concerned by situations of arduous labor and their consequences on their overall health.
Finally, we are alarmed by the increasingly precarious working conditions in Higher Education and Research and the challenging of the freedom of academic knowledge production resulting from the introduction in the last fifteen years in France of multiple laws regulating Higher Education and Research. We remind our readers how much disability research has made possible for several decades to conceptualise and support the emancipation of people with disabilities and the transformation of society with the scope to promote inclusion. We join other initiatives taken by various scientific journals to advance knowledge on the adverse effects of these policies and promote its wide dissemination to the readership. We call for scientific articles, position papers, commentaries and personal statements for publication in future issues of the journal.