Voting with learning disabilities – lifting the barriers

For many of the million plus over 18s in the UK who have learning disabilities, politics can be confusing and inaccessible.

Very few make it to the polling station – and of those that do – it’s claimed as many as one in five are unlawfully turned away. Which is why learning disability charities want this general election to be different.

The law says any adult not in prison – or detained under the mental health act – is entitled to vote. But Britons with learning difficulties rarely do. And according to Mencap, at the last election many were actually prevented from casting their ballot at the polling station itself.

“There are barriers to the registration process and also voting at the polling station itself as well, says Robert Holland, the parliamentary lead for Mencap.

“So people don’t register and sometimes when they turn up at the polling station they are turned away because staff make assumptions their capacity to vote or their understanding about voting.

“And of course that’s illegal no-one should be turned away from the polling stations.”

Those barriers come down long before one gets to the ballot box. The main parties now produce easy to read manifestos.

And – since the last election – Easy News was launched, a bimonthly newspaper for the learning disabled – written by the learning disabled. It tackles a big problem. Politicians – and news – can be baffling. But the paper is short on jargon – and uses lots of photos.

Easy news is part of a bigger campaign set up a decade ago to drive political engagement. United response – the charity behind it – say voting rates among their service users have soared.