Handica · 2028

Agoris analysis · updated November 2026

Key takeaways

• Handica is the disability and older-age trade show of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Its offer covers equipment and assistive technology, adapted vehicles and transport, home adaptation, sensory impairments, associations, sport, leisure, tourism and culture.
• Next edition: Wednesday 7 and Thursday 8 June 2028, in Lyon, according to the organiser's Autonomic Expo website; the Handica website currently gives only "June 2028". The organiser has not yet published the venue for this edition. The 2026 edition was held at Eurexpo Lyon, Hall 2.
• Organiser: ADES Organisation (Vincennes), publisher of the Autonomic Expo website, which lists Handica among its trade shows. No co-organiser is shown. Official website: salon-handica.com.
• Frequency: every two years, with editions in 2022, 2024 and 2026 before the 2028 edition.
• 2026 results: 218 exhibitors on the official list and 6,237 entries, split between 53% general public and 47% professionals.
• An exhibitor therefore speaks to two audiences at once: medico-social or hospital organisations and companies on one side, people with disabilities and their families on the other.

Who exhibits

Typical profile

The trade show presents six families of offer: equipment and assistive technology, adapted vehicles and transport, home adaptation, sensory impairments, associations, and finally sport, leisure, tourism and culture. The 2026 plan groups them into four zones: adapted vehicles and transport; visual impairment; equipment, services and assistive technology; associations, leisure, tourism and culture.

Manufacturers and distributors sit alongside organisations with no direct commercial aim: patient associations, ESAT (sheltered work establishments), tourist offices and institutions. Several exhibitors share a single stand number on the 2026 plan (E12, F34 or K14, for example): the figure of 218 counts exhibitors, not 218 stands.

Notable exhibitors

The 2028 exhibitor list has not been published. The names below come from the 2026 exhibitor list and the 2026 trade show plan:

• Wheelchairs, mobility and assistive technology: Invacare Poirier, Ottobock, Permobil, Sunrise Medical, Meyra Group, Vermeiren France, Pride Mobility Products, Drive Medical France, Life and Mobility France, Motion Composites, WHILL, Winncare France.
• Adapted vehicles: Gruau Laval, Kempf, Dietrich Véhicules, Allied Vehicles.
• Communication and sensory impairments: Tobii Dynavox, Smartbox Assistive Technology, Ceciaa / Eurobraille.
• Medical devices and supplies: Laboratoire Coloplast, B. Braun Medical, Hollister France, Paul Hartmann, Teleflex, VYV Équipement Médical.
• Institutions and associations: the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Tourisme, the Défenseur des droits (French Defender of Rights), France Rénov', France Paralympique, Unadev, the Association Valentin Haüy (Rhône committee), LADAPT Rhône Métropole de Lyon.

Quality of the audience

The organiser's 2026 visitor report counts 6,237 entries, of which 47% were professionals, or around 2,900 professional entries. No OJS certification or third-party audit is published.

Professionals break down as follows: medico-social or hospital establishment 39%, company 34%, association or non-profit organisation 14%, local authority, administration or institution 7%, self-employed or liberal profession 6%.

The 2026 report does not break down job functions. The 2022 report did: healthcare staff 45%, consultant, trainer or adviser 18%, reseller 16%, manufacturer 5%, prescriber 5%, human resources 4%, buyer 3%, user 2%, elected official 2%. The declared share of buyers remains low: healthcare staff and resellers together account for 61%, and they are the people a manufacturer's pitch must address first.

The 2026 areas of interest put equipment and assistive technology first (24%), followed by home adaptation and accessibility (17%), adapted transport and vehicles (13%), adapted digital solutions (11%), services, advice and support (10%), care and well-being (9%), tourism, culture and leisure (9%), and education, training and employment (7%).

The audience is primarily regional: Rhône 40%, Isère 14%, Ain 7%, Loire 5%, which is 66% of 2026 visitors from these four departments.

Events & community

Conference programme

The 2028 programme has not been published. The 2026 edition announced 26 conferences, spread across two spaces, Forum A and Forum B, with free access. Both spaces were equipped with a hearing loop and live speech transcription.

Activities

At the 2026 edition, Thursday 4 June was devoted on the Sports Area to a motor skills course, with instructions given in pictograms only, and to tchoukball. On the stands, AccessiJeux offered accessible board games and AINH an escape game for touring the trade show, with a white cane course and a wheelchair course, lip-reading, braille and French Sign Language. The Lucioles bookshop ran a book-signing area, and Adda Abdelli, creator of the series "Vestiaires", signed "Les Handiclapés" with Georges Grard on the Grrr… Art Éditions stand.

Community & networks

Handica is one of the trade shows listed by Autonomic Expo, alongside Paris, Marseille, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Rennes and Lille. For an exhibitor who wants to compare another catchment area, Autonomic Lille Europe takes place on 2 and 3 December 2026.

The partner logos for the 2026 edition are those of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region, Handimat, MainTenir and UFAT.

Organiser contact: contact@ades-organisation.com and +33 1 46 81 75 00.

On site: what you need to know

As the 2028 venue has not been published, the information below describes the 2026 edition and does not apply to the next one without confirmation from the organiser. For the 2026 site, see the Eurexpo Lyon page.

In 2026, at Eurexpo Lyon (boulevard de l'Europe, Chassieu), access was through the Hall 2.1 entrance. The trade show was open to visitors from 9.30am to 6pm on 3 June and from 9.30am to 5pm on 4 June, and to exhibitors from 8am. Entry was free for professionals and the general public, and parking P0 was free with a token to be collected at the reception desk.

The organiser listed tram T5 and bus 100, stop Eurexpo Lyon, as accessible. Invacare lent manual and electric wheelchairs on presentation of an ID document, and provided a free on-site repair service. The MainTenir association provided companions for touring the stands.

How much it costs to exhibit

Preparing your visit

For the exhibitor

• The Exposer page of Autonomic Expo offers an alert for the June 2028 edition. The "Devenir exposant" (become an exhibitor) link on the Handica website still points to the 2026 system.
• Wait for the venue to be confirmed before budgeting logistics and accommodation.
• Prepare two pitches on the stand: a head of establishment or a reseller does not ask the same questions as a person with a disability or a relative.
• Take real care over stand accessibility: wheelchair circulation, display height, legible materials, and demonstrations that can be done from a seated position.
• Look at the 2026 plan to see where the zones and activity areas were, without assuming it will be repeated.

For the decision-making visitor

• Check the 2028 venue, opening hours and entry conditions on the official website closer to the date: they have not yet been published.
• Prepare your visit by family of offer, using the exhibitor list as soon as it is published.
• Pick out the useful conferences: the two forums in 2026 were free to attend.

Policy & CSR initiatives

Neither the Handica website nor the Autonomic Expo website publishes a CSR page or commitments, and no ISO 20121 certification specific to the trade show is displayed.

The verifiable measures at the 2026 edition concern accessibility: a hearing loop and live transcription in the conference spaces, wheelchair loans, companions, adapted toilets and a care room.

As for the venue, provided it is used again in 2028, Lyon events states that Eurexpo Lyon is ISO 20121 certified.

How the trade show has evolved

Trajectory analysis

Attendance has been stable over four years: 6,267 entries in 2022, 6,237 in 2026. The 2024 report could not be found, which leaves a gap in the series. The share of professionals rises slightly, from 44% to 47%, and companies go from 28% to 34% of professional visitors, with a caveat: the categories in the 2022 report are more detailed than those in 2026.

On the supply side, the 2022 list has 227 names, the Mon Parcours Handicap page announced over 240 exhibitors ahead of the 2024 edition, and the 2026 list shows 218. These three figures are not of the same nature and do not show a clear trend.

The format has changed since 2011, when Handicap.fr announced three days, 280 exhibitors and 15,000 m²: this was a pre-show announcement, not a results figure.

Unless otherwise stated, all factual data in this listing comes from the organiser's official website (salon-handica.com).