Subsequently, twins were born. The house became too small, the couple had to move. It was once again necessary to install an elevator and seek help from AViQ. Paul was going to find out how administration works. He remembers April 10, 2014, the day his life changed. The motorcycle accident deprived him of the use of his legs. Hospitalizations, revalidation: Paul, faced with the ordeal, learned his new life, rebuilt himself.
“In short, they were telling me to manage.”
In 2019, he and his wife decided to settle in the Arlon region near Luxembourg where he works in banking IT. After six months of fruitless searching for single-storey accommodation, the couple settled on a house with a second floor requiring the installation of a lifting platform. Faced with the cost, Paul, who spoke to AViQ, did not expect so many complications. He takes out his diary. The dates are precise. He began, on August 19, 2019, by finding out what to do. He sent his file to AViQ on September 19. Then the silence, the long wait.
After fifteen months, he finally learned, on December 18, 2020, that the file was only then “taken up for analysis“. The decision would not take place until February 10, 2021. AViQ, for the placement of the platform, granted 6,500 euros.
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Money was falling from the sky
Very disappointed, Paul Charlier, who expected more in view of the cost of the installation, filed a complaint on February 26, 2021. On April 7, 2021, the AViQ granted this and awarded 27,270 euros, i.e. four times more than it was prepared to pay in February. In two months, the aid increased from 6,500 to 27,000 euros. “I had just claimed and 21,000 euros fell to me like that from the sky. Of course, I thank AViQ but obviously I was entitled to it and if I had not claimed, these 21,000 euros would pass under my nose “. In the end, the wait had lasted nineteen months.
“Why such delays?”castigates Paul Charlier who, having the means, had taken the initiative and had the elevator installed at his own expense, without waiting for the AViQ to make its decision. “If I hadn’t had the means, how would I have managed to go upstairs without an elevator for 19 months and risk falling down the stairs every time?”
When the twins were born, the house became too small. The couple decided to build. Their land, with an area of 40 acres, made it possible to build on one level. As expected, Paul Charlier submitted to the municipality the architect’s preliminary project that the town planning department would have to study. After three months of waiting, town planning rejected the plans on the grounds that building on one level was prohibited there. The construction had to include “between 1.5 and 2 floors”. Paul claimed the motorcycle accident and his disability forcing him to use a wheelchair. In vain. No exemptions were accepted.
He resigned himself to reviewing the plans and since it would be necessary to add a floor and therefore install an elevator, to seek help from the AViQ again. New disappointment: AViQ refused to intervene! Pattern ? For AViQ, the couple did not move due to the worsening of the disability but following the birth of the twins. This is the reasoning that Paul has difficulty understanding. “I was forced to install an elevator even though I wanted a single-storey house. I was forced to install this elevator but the AViQ, which had agreed for the other house, refused, this time, to intervene “. The AViQ has not reversed its refusal.
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New obstacles
Once the house was built, other problems presented themselves: the state of the sidewalk and the street in front of their house, impassable for wheelchairs.
Paul asked the municipality to do what was necessary. His request, he says, has been processed since January 10, 2024. He was eventually told that it was not up to the municipality but up to him to develop the sidewalk at his own expense. The municipality plans to install a permanent sidewalk “later”. “Later”, when is it? At this stage, the date has not been communicated. “In short, they told me to manage”.
During the Christmas period, Paul Charlier wanted to remind people that the Constitution states, however, since 2021, that the disabled person “Has the right to full inclusion in society, including the right to reasonable accommodation.“
