New Westminster event on the horizon

United Response has seen a great deal of success with its Making Democracy Accessible and Every Vote Counts campaigns. We got the core message – that politics and voting should be more approachable to all – out there amongst the public, the media and those making the decisions in the world of politics. We even saw, for the first time ever, all three of the main parties produce accessible manifestos.

Building on this momentum – as part of a series of events organised by Dods, the political information and communications specialist – a new event will be held at Westminster on Monday 5 July, between 1.00 and 2.30pm. This lunchtime session, called Opening Up Democracy, will target new MPs and focus on the ongoing importance of engaging with all voters – including those with learning disabilities – and, crucially, how to achieve this in practical terms.

The event is expected to feature guest speaker MPs from the main three parties, a Q&A session and a team of UR Consultants who will demonstrate how to convert political material into accessible information.

Guests will also hear from people with learning disabilities who benefit from accessible communication first hand, as well as experts discussing the needs of people with a learning disability.

Finally, all attendees will be given their own copy of the acclaimed multimedia Making Democracy Accessible toolkit.

Please stay tuned for more details on this. Shortly, we’ll be blogging a template letter you can send you MP urging them to get involved with Opening Up Democracy. Alternatively, if you are an MP, please contact our press office for more details.

James Dodd, web editor.