Disability inclusion in Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, Digi Mart USA News (Saint-Pierre and Miquelon): Around sixty people live with disabilities on the archipelago of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, a French territory with a population of a few thousand. Closeness between residents and a strong sense of community help foster acceptance of difference.
Over the decades, families, professionals and associations have built local solutions so that people concerned can live, work and grow up on their island territory.
The story begins in the late 1970s, when the territory’s isolation led residents to create the association Vivre Ensemble to support families day to day and allow people with disabilities to remain near their relatives. At the time, the lack of suitable structures on the archipelago could force some families to consider moving to metropolitan France, to distant and sometimes costly institutions.
Over time, Vivre Ensemble has become a central player in supporting people with disabilities on Saint-Pierre and Miquelon. The association operates under a public service delegation and today relies on three structures that intervene at different stages of life.
The SESSAD Les Alouettes supports children outside school hours, in partnership with the national education system. The ESAT Atelier Boursaint assists people with professional integration, and the Georges Gaspard residential home provides a place to live.
This local organization reflects a broader shift in how disability is viewed. In metropolitan France as well as on Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, people with disabilities are now more visible in society, at school, in the workplace and in the media.
Although progress has been made over several decades, sector professionals continue to warn that insufficient resources are available to support these people and their families.
Through portraits spanning childhood to adulthood, the film meets those living with disability on Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, closely following their daily realities alongside their families and the professionals and volunteers who support them. It shows how a spirit of “living together” can bring the world of disability closer to that of able-bodied people, carried by a positive energy that is remarkably distinctive.
The documentary is a co-production with France Télévisions (SPM La 1ère). Content director for the overseas division: Laurent Corteel.
Deputy content director in charge of documentaries: Sophiane Tilikete.
