Member states urged to improve access to elections for the disabled

UK Socialist MEP Richard Howitt has backed calls for easier access to elections for people with disabilities.

Speaking on Tuesday, the deputy said the ability of a disabled person to vote was "a basic human right."

His comments come on the day experts gathered in Brussels for a conference on ways of improving accessibility of elections in member states.

The conference was organised by the European Association of Societies of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities and their Families.

It heard demands for improvements, such as adaptations to voting booths, including ramps for wheelchair-users. Other measures that could be taken include touch-screen voting machines for people with reduced sight.

Howitt, who was one of the speakers at the conference, said, "The right to vote is one of the most fundamental rights of EU citizens.

"However, it is a right which is denied to many disabled people in Europe when they come to vote in elections. They are denied the right to vote in European and national elections because, for different reasons, the elections are not accessible for them."
This includes people with intellectual, sensory and physical disabilities as well as the elderly and other groups at risk of non-participation, the conference was told.

Reasons include electoral campaigns providing information which is difficult to understand for people with learning difficulties.

Howitt, who is known as a champion of disability issues, says he wants to see "major improvements" implemented in time for the next European elections.

"It is not only about taking part in the political process but about being included in society and having the voice of disabled people heard."

The two-day conference concluded on Tuesday.