Making Democracy Accessible

Here is an excerpt from our press release about Making Democracy Accessible:

Politicians must make democracy more accessible, says learning disability charity, United Response

With a general election imminent, the national learning disability charity, United Response, is launching a set of guides – Making Democracy Accessible - to help politicians, party workers and public officials communicate more effectively with the thousands of people with learning disabilities, who are currently not using their vote.

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 voting. Research carried out by United Response among the people it supports, shows that while 80% are registered to vote, only 16% voted in the 2005 General Election, compared with a national turnout of 61%.

Read the full press release on our website

Read more about the project on our website

Every Vote Counts! in Community Care magazine

Every Vote Counts! - the project United Response has been working on to help people with learning disabilities engage with the democratic procress has been featured in Community Care magazine.

Read the article in full on Community Care's website

Every Vote Counts! website launched

With elections around the corner, we've launched the Every Vote Counts! website to make it easier for people with learning disabilities to use their vote and have their say.

The website, www.everyvotecounts.org.uk has been built in consultation with people with learning disabilities. It is part of the three year Every Vote Counts! campaign launched by us, and funded by the Electoral Commission. It is designed to open up the democratic process to the thousands of people with learning disabilities in England who are currently missing out on the opportunity to vote.

We hope the Every Vote Counts! website will make the democratic process more accessible to people with learning disabilities. Using pictures, easy to understand words and audio, the site provides information on how politics works, how it affects people's lives and how people can get involved and register their opinion.

It also includes a section where users can feedback on their own experiences of using the website, contributing to its ongoing development as well as the option to register to receive updates as new features are added. The site is continuing to be user tested with people with learning disabilities, so it can be as accessible to as many people as possible.

Read the full press release on our website

Every Vote Counts

Our project looking at the voting system, politics and people with learning disabilities was featured in Guardian Society on Wednesday.

The piece highlights findings from a recent survey we carried out, looking at the number of people we support who are voting and the reasons for non-participation.

The survey highlights that while 80% of people supported by United Response are registered to vote, only 16% took part in their last local elections and 20% in the last general elections. The complexity of the the voting system, a lack of accessible information and a dearth of training for councillors, MPs and other political stakeholders, were all highlighted by United Response support workers as key barriers to participation.

Isabel Ros Lopez, UR First Manager, was interviewed by The Guardian about the project. She said:

"People with learning disabilities are citizens too, and we have a social duty and legal responsibility to enable them to take part in the democratic process. The fact that we are not achieving this is a social failure."

Su Sayer, chief executive of United Response, said:

"Political decisions affect the lives of people with learning disabilities in the same way as they affect everyone else - more so in many cases - and yet they continue to be some of the most disenfranchised people in society."

Here's the link to the article http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/apr/30/learningdisability

Every Vote Counts

Every vote counts: United Response launches campaign to engage people with learning disabilities in the democratic proces

United Response, the charity creating opportunities with people with learning disabilities or mental health needs, has launched a campaign to make the democratic process more accessible to the thousands of people with learning disabilities in England who are missing out on the opportunity to vote.

The campaign will be funded by the Electoral Commission, under its programme to encourage greater participation among disabled people.

In the 2001 General Election only 31% of people with learning disabilities voted compared with a national turnout of 59%. Every Vote Counts is a three year campaign to increase the number of people with learning disabilities that are registered to vote and help them have more of a say in the political decisions that affect their lives.

During the first year of the campaign, United Response will consult with other organisations and people supported by the charity, to create a resource to help people with learning disabilities better understand how politics affects their everyday lives, the reasons for voting and how to engage in the democratic process.

United Response will then disseminate the information, providing training for its staff so they can support people to become more actively involved. It will also offer training to organisations and groups involved in the electoral and democratic process on how to make information about policies and candidates more accessible to people with learning disabilities.

For more information email info@unitedresponse.org.uk