1)
Everyone has the right to take part in the
government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
2)
Everyone has the right of equal access to
public service in his country.
We are a democratic country
and all have the right to participate and even be elected representatives.
However, disabled people are significantly underrepresented in government and
in Parliament. If Parliament was truly representative of society, there would
be 65 disabled MPs in Parliament!
Furthermore, people have found that even visiting Parliament
can be a strenuous task for wheelchair users. Wheelchair users visiting
Parliament have to be escorted around the building whereas non-wheelchair users
practically can roam around freely in most of the public areas once they get
through the security barriers. This is more different access than equal access.
The ability to vote and participate in elections is a key
democratic right. In the 2010 Polls Apart report,
research found that at 67% of polling stations surveyed, disabled people faced
accessibility barriers. That’s an improvement of only 1% on the last general
election, and just 2% on the election before. Progress is not moving fast
enough.
Councils regularly review polling stations and as part of
this, they should also ensure that there are as few barriers as possible at
polling stations for disabled people. Staff training was also cited as an area
that needs improvement. In one case study in the report, a voter felt totally
ignored as the member of staff chose to communicate with their personal
assistant rather than the individual voter.
The solutions for realising this Human Right are in better
training for staff, wider voting options and greater accessibility of polling
booths. Certainly the rate of improvement needs to change for the better. A 2%
decrease in accessibility barriers faced since two general elections ago is
nowhere near good enough.
No comments:
Post a Comment