Policy and campaigns
How you can help us ensure that the voices of people with learning disabilities are heard in 2010.
Every Vote Counts
Imagine not having the opportunity to vote at the General Election in 2010. How would it make you feel? Unfortunately, for hundreds of thousands of adults with learning disabilities in England that was the reality in 2005.
People with learning disabilities have the same right to vote as everyone else, yet at present many of the 1 million adults with learning disabilities in England, are not using their vote. Research carried out by United Response, suggests that while 80% of the people we support are registered to vote, only 16% of those voted in the last General Election and 20% in their last local elections. We found that a lack of easy to understand information about candidates and policies, along with the complexity of the democratic system, are all barriers preventing people with learning disabilities from voting.
We believe that people with learning disabilities have the right to have their democratic voices heard and so in 2007, United Response launched Every Vote Counts, a three year project, funded by the Electoral Commission, aimed at working with people with learning disabilities to enable them to become better engaged with every aspect of the democratic process from voting to campaigning on issues important to them locally.
How you can help us get more voices heard
Tell people about the Every Vote Counts pack and website
United Response has produced the Every Vote Counts pack and website where people with learning disabilities and those who support them can find easy to understand information about every part of the democratic process, from what is politics, to what is the role of an MP, and what does it mean to vote.
You can access the Every Vote Counts website at www.everyvotecounts.org.uk
Tell your MP and local councillors about Making Democracy Accessible
United Response has also produced a resource aimed specifically at helping politicians, political parties and public officials communicate more effectively with people with learning disabilities. The Making Democracy Accessible resource includes a five point guide on making public and political information more accessible, background information on engaging with learning disabled constituents and signposting to organisations who can help to make information easier to understand.
You can find out more about Making Democracy Accessible at www.unitedresponse.org.uk/mda
Ask your MP to sign our Early Day Motion
You can also support the Every Vote Counts campaign by writing to your MP and asking them to sign Early Day Motion 383 entitled ‘People with a learning disability and voting’.
The EDM tabled by The Rt Hon Tom Clarke MP, Co-Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Learning Disability, on behalf of United Response and Mencap, highlights the low number of people with learning disabilities who voted at the last election and calls on all prospective parliamentary candidates, local authorities, political parties and central government to make their election material accessible to people with learning disabilities.
You may wish to include some of the following points in the letter to your MP:
- There are 1 million adults with learning disabilities in England, many of whom have the same right to vote heard as everyone else.
- Yet people with learning disabilities are among the most disenfranchised in society. Research carried out by the national learning disability charity, United Response, suggests that less than 20% of people with learning disabilities actually used their vote in the 2005 election, compared with a national turnout of 61%.
- A lack of easy to understand information about candidates and policies, along with the complexity of the democratic system, are all barriers preventing people with learning disabilities from voting.
- United Response has launched a three year campaign entitled Every Vote Counts to raise awareness of the voting rights of people with learning disabilities and to enable people with learning disabilities to become better engaged with every aspect of the democratic process from voting to campaigning on issues important to them locally.
- Through Early Day Motion 383, tabled by the Rt Hon Tom Clarke MP, United Response and Mencap, are calling on all prospective parliamentary candidates, local authorities, political parties and central government to make their election material as accessible as possible for people with learning disabilities.
- Please support your learning disabled constituents and make their votes count by signing EDM 383 and adding your name to the list of MPs calling for the democratic process to be made more accessible.
You can read the full text of EDM 383 at: Early Day Motions
You can find out the name of your MP and how to contact them at: www.theyworkforyou.com
