Who's counting? Institutional Autonomy and the Production of Activity Data for Disability Policy in France (2006-2014)

This article deals with the use of figures for public action piloting in disability policy. This particular public action sector seems to lack piloting figures and comparable data for the monitoring of action in institutions in charge of granting social services for disabled persons, the Maisons départementales des personnes handicapées (MDPH). Based on fieldwork carried out since 2011 in this sector, this article reveals that the production of specific activity figures requires resource mobilisation and precise tasks on the part of organisations. The production of activity data therefore can reflect the autonomy of these administrative organisations. In limiting the capacity of these organisations specifically tasked with benefits attribution decisions, political authorities have also limited the autonomy they could in theory have claimed, and, in so doing, have limited their capacity to make these decisions independently of the political configurations and economic situations within which these benefits are recognised.