Accessible Voting
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I’m Mary Woodall and I am a self-advocate and member of Learning Disability England’s representative body.
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As part of this work on the rep body I am Learning Disability England’s representative on the Social Care All Party Parliamentary group (APPG) lived experience advisory group.
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The lived experience group brings together the voices of people with lived experience to have their say in policy change on adult social care.
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For some of the meetings we have been speaking about accessible voting and getting people with learning disabilities involved in politics.
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A report from The Electoral Commision that has just come out looked at how the May 2023 elections in England were run and how voters and campaigners found taking part.
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It found that there are still accessibility barriers that stop people from being able to vote. One of these was the need for voter ID.
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The My Vote My Voice campaign had a reception in parliament on Wednesday 19th July that I went along to as one of the APPG’s representatives.
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On the same day, I helped to hand in a petition to 10 Downing Street with some other members of this campaign group and our lived experience group.
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The petition is calling on the Government and Parliament to put more focus into making voting accessible.
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Politicians must do better to make it easier for autistic people and people with learning disabilities to use their right to vote.
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The voices of people with a learning disability need to be heard and they need to have their say in how the country is run.
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The lived experience group I am part is another way of helping people’s voices be heard.
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At the most recent group meeting we were joined by a representative from People Voice Media.
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They are a storytelling movement that help people use technology to share their own (and their peers’) stories of lived experience.
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I found this meeting really interesting and useful.
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It is not that people with a learning disability don’t have a voice and stories to share but sometimes need a bit of help to be heard.