French parliamentarian using wheelchair wins changes to voting rules that discriminate against him

PARIS (AP) – French lawmakers agreed on Wednesday to change their voting methods, choosing to cancel a voting method that discriminated against MPs using wheelchairs because it required him to stand.

National Assembly President Yaël Braun-Pivet, MP Sébastien Peytavie, who proposed the rule change, said the discrimination he faced in the vote in the House of Commons reflects a greater failure of France against people with disabilities.

Legislators voted for the proposal on Wednesday (183 without objection), and now it cleared the way for Braun-Pivet to eliminate the so-called “sitting and standing” vote.

At that time, lawmakers either sat down or stood up to show how they voted. Depending on the situation, this is one of four voting methods used by French lawmakers. The others are hands performing, with electronic voting boxes or paper tickets falling into the urn.