Democratic rights access wrongs

So here we are in the last full week of the General Election campaign.  And many of us as disabled people are thinking not only about who to vote for, but whether we’ll be able to vote in an accessible way at all.

Polling stations tend to be put in the nearest handy and available public building space.  That might well be a recently built primary school which is fully compliant with building regulations relating to disability access.

But it’s as likely to be somewhere which has threes steps up to the door and no ramp.  No matter how motivated you might be to vote, if you can’[t do the steps, you can’t get in to vote.

Putting buildings to one side – which is a big thing to do – how likely is it that a deaf would-be voter will find that one of the officials at their polling station can speak British Sign Language?  Not very.  Will your average sight impaired elector find ballot papers available in a variety of formats other than standard print?  No.  And what provision is there for people with communication impairments?  Or voters with learning difficulties?  None.

Of course, there is the possibility of postal voting, but that too relies on print and is not, for all sorts of reasons, accessible to all.  Besides which, oh dear, I think we just missed the deadline.

Whether we’re for continuing the war in Afghanistan or getting our troops out as soon as possible, whether we want to see tax cuts or public spending cuts, whether we’ve simply decided to vote on the basis of the performance of one or other of the leaders in the various televised debates, the fact remains that the right to vote ought to be an absolute given. Far from that, it’s a lot harder for many disabled people than it should be.

• The National Disabled People’s Poll is the first comprehensive poll of disabled people’s views on politics, the political parties and voting. It aims to amplify the voices of disabled people and their families and ensure that your experiences and opinions are heard by politicians and the media, as well as companies and other decision-makers.