United Response welcomes Government response on getting more people with learning disabilities voting
United Response welcomes the Government’s response to the Access to Elections consultation. The response includes a number of actions that United Response called for in its submission to the inquiry.
There are an estimated 1.1 million people with learning disabilities in the UK and more if you add people with profound and multiple disabilities. A lack of access to accessible information means that many of these people do not vote.
Since setting up our Every Votes Count project, we have found that many people we support want to get involved in the democratic process.
The report recommends a number of actions to be taken forward including the need to consider how staff training at polling stations can be focused to address the needs of disabled people, and looking at how awareness of the rights of people with disabilities to vote can be improved.
United Response has been campaigning for many years to improve access to the demographic process for people with learning disabilities. This consultation is a great opportunity for the Government to move their understanding forward, as to why people with a learning disability are often disenfranchised from taking part in the political process.
Head over to our dedicated Every Votes Counts website to for more accessible information on politics and the democratic process.