Disability Matters Committee writes to Housing Minister on barriers to political participation faced by people with disabilities

The Committee have held two public meetings on the topic and heard the lived experience from individuals, disability groups and DPOs. The Committee also published a report on the topic called the Participation of people with disabilities in political, cultural, community and public life which reflected these barriers.

The Committee are aware that barriers to political participation are not only a matter of a lack of access to voting and polling stations but have deep roots in the policy of segregation of people with disabilities historically in Ireland across all sectors of society. This segregation continues today as human rights for people with disabilities are not meaningfully mainstreamed across education, health care, employment and transport, through implementation of the UNCRPD.

This is clear to the Committee considering the imbalance and inequality with regard literacy and educational outcomes for certain groups of people with disabilities, including the Deaf community and people with intellectual disabilities. Low literacy and educational outcomes ensure that people with disabilities can become segregated from political participation from the beginning of their lives. Inaccessible information in the media and politics, and in electoral debates and processes continues this segregation.

The realisation of a meaningful inclusive democracy and the rights to political participation for people with disabilities is impacted further because of the significant barriers to realisation of the right to vote.

The Committee heard that 52% of disabled voters surveyed after the General Election 2020 reported facing barriers to voting. These barriers include inaccessible information, communications and polling stations and lack of disability awareness and equality training of polling staff, as well as an inaccessible and ineffective online voting system.

The Committee also heard that there is a need for significant improvement by political parties to select disabled candidates and provide reasonable accommodations and that a lack of disabled candidates is leading to political invisibility for people with disabilities. The Committee have taken this on board and are committed to bring about change in this regard.

In line with the recommendations made by the Disability Stakeholders Group to the Committee and in the Committees recent report, the Committee recommend that;

1. the Electoral Commission be mandated to include the promotion, inclusion, facilitation, and participation of persons with disabilities in the electoral and political process and undertake a review of the voting process to ensure compliance with the UNCRPD and Universal Design in consultation with DPOs and individuals with disabilities and ensure that training in disability awareness and equality is provided for all returning officers and polling staff.

2. international practices are examined to support people with disabilities participate in politics, such as the UK’s Access to Elected Office Fund which provides support to disabled candidates standing for all levels of election with a view to introducing similar initiatives in Ireland
3. internship schemes at local and national government levels are introduced to assist people with disabilities prepare to work in political participation.

4. current requirements for registration are developed for a postal vote so that people with disabilities do not have to prove their disability through medical assessment and instead can reflect other evidence supplied to the State which has already proved their disability; for example, being in receipt of certain disability related payments. Access for postal voting must not be reviewed on an annual basis.

a) The receipt for the postal vote ballot paper is abolished, unless this receipt will actually be issued to the postal voter.

b) Timelines for voter registration is reviewed in order to allow postal voters to have similar deadlines as those who attend the polling station.

5. Returning Officers must publish their compliance with the NDA Accessible Voting checklist and be held to account for any breaches.

6. Amendments are made to the provisions and language around disabled voters giving advance notice of expected difficulty gaining access to their local polling station

7. The membership of the Working Group on Disability Voting must be expanded to include more DPOs and reflect UNCRPD Article 4(3) and 4(4).

8. People with disabilities should be able to access additional Personal Assistance Supports where necessary to support their involvement in politics.

9. The work underway across Government to increase female political participation rates must be inclusive of disabled women.