France’s Sport et Handicap 2030 Plan Advances Inclusion for People with Disabilities in Sport

France has launched the Stratégie nationale Sport et Handicap 2030, an ambitious national policy aiming to make sport more inclusive and accessible to people with disabilities across the country. The strategy, running through 2030, seeks to transform the landscape of sports participation by breaking down barriers related to awareness, infrastructure accessibility, and the training of sport professionals. It sets out five principal pillars: raising awareness about physical activity’s importance, improving access to facilities and adapted practices, training sport actors, monitoring and evaluating initiatives, and strengthening territorial governance.

This strategy is designed to reduce territorial inequalities between urban and rural areas, thereby making sport a tool for autonomy, health, citizenship, and social cohesion. It builds on a societal vision promoting equality and inclusive participation. The framework also capitalizes on the legacy of recent major sporting events to boost the profile of parasports and to normalize disability inclusion in everyday sports environments.

Complementing this broad national approach is grassroots initiative RUBieS, an association focused on adapted rugby for women with cancer. Founded in Toulouse nine years ago, the association uses non-contact rugby to provide physical and psychological benefits, including social support. Such programs illustrate tangible applications of the strategy’s objectives by enabling vulnerable groups to engage safely in sport, fostering community and improving well-being.

Together, these efforts represent an integrated push by France to ensure sport is a right accessible to everyone, dismantling existing obstacles and making inclusive sporting practice central to society.