"I can still be useful"

Anne looks forward to her remaining days at the socio-professional orientation centre in Lintgen with a feeling of hope. She has just finished weaving baskets together with other project participants before we move to a corner of the room to do an interview. The 45-year-old has volunteered to talk about her situation.

Before she fell into "reclassement" (professional redeployment) in 2016, Anne worked in retail. After an operation, "the CNS decided that I could not return to my previous post and they suggested redeployment, " she recalls.

Whoever is sent to the Centre d'Orientation Socio-Professionnelle – Handicap et Reclassement (Cosp-HR), like Anne, has usually been looking for work for many years. People come here who, due to a disability, an illness or as a result of an accident, are no longer fully fit for work, have had to give up their previous career and/or need an adapted working environment.

You can't see Anne's limitation. She has not been able to use her right arm fully for several years. If she, who is right-handed, stretches her arm beyond a certain radius or has to repeat movements over and over again, she feels pain. In retail, however, her arms are constantly in motion, whether putting away goods or at the checkout. "It has not only affected my professional life, but also my personal life." It's the case when driving a car as it is with cutting vegetables.