The French Federation of the Blind recently elected Anne Renoud, its first female president, an activist who has worked in the public employment service. Former President of FAF-APRIDEV Rhône-Alpes, Anne Renoud is originally from Ardèche and now lives near Bourg-en-Bresse. Blind since the age of 30, she has never stopped fighting to advance the cause of visually impaired people.
"I am proud to take over from Vincent Michel, who has shown unfailing commitment during his 12 years as President. I will continue the projects that have been launched, whether on the issue of accessibility of the built environment, roads, transport or medical research; and I will undertake new projects, just as crucial as the above mentioned, on access to digital technology, training, employment, sports and culture.
I was lucky enough to go to an ordinary school, to have parents who never held me back. I trained as a masseur-physiotherapist, then I needed to invest myself in the professional integration of blind people, which I still feel today as a real injustice. Thanks to the work carried out at the FAF-APRIDEV Rhône-Alpes, we manage to individually accompany more than 60 people a year and put a third of them back into employment each year. This is a great victory for the territory and I would like to generalise these good practices and good results at a national level. I am a person of challenge, with a fighting spirit and I don't lack motivation! "Anne Renoud
The Federation gathers 52 member associations and acts as a privileged interlocutor for the public authorities. Beyond the fundamental struggles around the promotion and learning of Braille, education, access to knowledge and books (only 7% are accessible), opening up to the world of culture, sport and leisure, Anne Renoud will give priority to:
- Digital accessibility, by encouraging university training centres to integrate dedicated modules; by taking action to make business software accessible and by training visually impaired people to use these software,
- Employment and vocational training: in France, only 1 in 2 visually impaired people are in employment. Yet they have the ability to make their place in the professional world and develop their full potential if jobs and training are finally accessible. The Federation will soon launch a study on the occupations under strain that can be performed by a blind or visually impaired person and will identify how to make the corresponding training accessible,
- Autonomy: in France, one blind person is born every 15 hours. It is therefore essential to train more instructors for the autonomy of visually impaired people, a degree course provided by the Federation,
- Paris 2024, in particular on the issue of audiodescription and the place given to visually impaired athletes and amateurs. The Federation wishes to initiate a reflection in collaboration with the OCOG.
Find Anne Renoud's presentation video (in French) as well as all the Federation's news and activities at aveuglesdefrance.org.
About the French Federation of the Blind
Created in 1917, the French Federation of the Blind and Partially sighted People gathers activists, users, professionals and volunteers committed to the greater social and economic inclusion of people with visual impairment. It acts on a daily basis to enable full citizenship for all blind and partially sighted people, in France and abroad.