Election: voting support for people with learning disabilities

Campaigner and self-advocate Gary Bourlet on politicians

The Conservatives’ manifesto pledges on social care have been both controversial and muddled, but at least the issue of support (and how we pay for it) is finally a subject for mainstream national debate. Campaigners have long argued that plans to fix the broken social care system must be high on the political agenda, but many of the people who rely on it most are rarely wooed by politicians – as the above quote from Gary Bourlet makes clear.

And while more than a million people with a learning disability are entitled to vote on June 8, according to social care provider Dimensions, only around 10% of people with learning disabilities vote. This is generally, as campaigner Gary Bourlet once told me about politicians, because “they don’t make it accessible to us … they talk in jargon.”

The links below offer accessible resources and general voting guides to support people to vote and find out more about election issues (I’ll update this roundup as – hopefully – more is added).

The manifestos (to be updated):
Liberal Democrats – easy read version available pdf

Labour – accessible formats here.

Conservatives – easy read and accessible formats manifestos here.

The Green Party – “All manifestos and alternative formats” here, including easy read, braille and audio.

There is no mention of how to get an accessible version of the UKIP manifesto.

Campaign for accessible manifestos from Mencap: “We want people with a learning disability to feel part of this election. But we need your help.”

Guides to voting:
Easy read guide to voting in the general election published by the Electoral Commission and Mencap – pdf: “People with a learning disability have as much right to vote as anyone else. Don’t let anyone else tell you different.” (See also this pdf from the Electoral Commission on disabled people’s voting rights).

Easy read guide to voting from Inclusion North: “The guide has lots of links to lots of information about how to vote.”

Love Your Vote is “a campaign run by Dimensions to support people with learning disabilities and autism to understand and exercise their right to vote.”

Every Vote Counts from United Response is “aimed specifically at making the process easier to understand for people with learning disabilities and those that support them”.

Video guide to voting from Brandon Trust is a video guide that “explains how things work in the UK, what you need to do to register to vote, and the different ways you can vote”.

Link to a short film made by BTM’s learning disability group “encouraging everyone to register to vote by May 22”

Easy read summary of social care issues that all parties should consider, from VODG: “Our General Election statement sets out the issues VODG wants all political parties to consider during the General Election 2017 campaign.”

Event at 10.30am Sat 3 June University of East Anglia: “Learning Disability nursing students at the School of Health Sciences have organised an information day for people with learning disabilities so that they can find out more about voting in the upcoming general election…The political parties will be represented at this drop-in session and will provide accessible information and discuss their policies with people with learning disabilities.” Also see the related Facebook group.

RNIB on voting and elections for the visually impaired: “All voters have a right to vote independently and in secret, and local authorities have to ensure that polling stations are accessible to people with sight loss.”

Scope’s guide to accessible voting: “Accessible voting..Make sure your voice is heard this June.”

An “unbiased, easy read guide to party manifestos” from United Response

On social media:
You can also follow the hashtags #LoveYourVote #EveryVoteCounts #LDvote #EasyReadElection #LDVote2017 on Twitter.

* This post was updated on Mon 22 May with information on the University of East Anglia event, Green Party manifesto and Conservative Party manifesto, on Fri 26 May with RNIB info and Scope’s voting guide and on Fri 2 June with the United Response resource.

Related video: Kathy Mohan angrily asks what Theresa May intends to do to help people with mental health problems and learning disabilities.

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