“It wasn’t a comfort purchase. It's really something that is useful to me, that helps me on a daily basis. » For several months, Jacqueline Talpin has been enjoying a wonderful but expensive accessory. Paraplegic since a devastating spinal cord ischemia (a spinal cord infarction) which occurred in 2021, this resident of Fay-de-Bretagne in Loire-Atlantique had bought herself a third wheel for her wheelchair. An electrically assisted accessory that allows her to go out alone and that she was able to afford thanks to aid of 2,000 euros (the maximum amount) that the State had paid her, allowing the total investment to be amortized a little. of 7,000 euros.
A year after receiving her check, this civil service retiree learned that she was ultimately not eligible for this assistance offered as part of the “bicycle bonus” put in place by the government. And that makes her deeply angry.
She can walk “without breaking her shoulders”
The beginning of the story revealed by Ocean Press dates back to 2023 and the arrival of an equipment seller within the “Comme les autres” association of which Jacqueline is a part. The salesperson offers several people with disabilities the opportunity to “test” some products to make their lives easier. Two years after her serious health accident, Jacqueline tested an electrically assisted third wheel which allowed her to go for walks alone “without breaking her shoulders” with her manual wheelchair.
After a period of reflection, she invested in another store which touted the bonus of 2,000 euros to which she was eligible. After an initial refusal linked to a simple registration error, the Services and Payment Agency (ASP) validates his request and pays him state aid. “This third wheel offers me real autonomy. Without her, I am dependent on my husband, who has to be there to push me. Or, I have to take the car, even to go to the town, which is less than a kilometer from my house,” she explains to 20 Minutes. Especially since getting behind the wheel turns out to be complicated when you're in a wheelchair.
-Wary of Bayrou's promise
Ordered to repay state aid, Jacqueline Talpin initiated mediation with the Services and Payment Agency, in particular to try to stagger the payments. Above all, she doesn't understand why she is being refused this little help which has done her so much good. “I have always been in good faith, I have not lied. I called them to make sure I was eligible. I always said it was for buying a third wheel. There, I have no choice, I have to repay, even though it is a mistake on their part,” laments the former civil servant. To qualify, she would have had to invest in a system with pedaling.
If Jacqueline Talpin is so upset, it is also because she “spent a lot” and almost always “out of her own pocket” to adapt her life to her disability. She, who led a normal life, saw her daily life turned upside down in 2021 when she suffered spinal cord ischemia. “I was suddenly paralyzed. In less than fifteen minutes, I was quadriplegic,” she explains. After several weeks of hospitalization and months of rehabilitation, Jacqueline and her husband had to change everything. “We sold the house to build another, we bought the equipment to adapt the bathroom, we changed cars, I bought an armchair. And for all that, I didn't get much help. »
Because she was retired on the day of her heart attack, Jacqueline Talpin was not entitled to help from the Departmental Center for Disabled People (MDPH). She was only able to count on her civil servant pension to finance this costly adaptation to the new life. Even his chair was only partially refunded. So François Bayrou's promise to fully reimburse wheelchairs from 2025 is something Jacqueline Talpin is wary of. “I’m waiting to see.” »
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