We have a duty to help people with learning disabilities vote in the election

Social work’s role in ensuring barriers are overcome
A polling station

Social workers are being called upon to use their skills to make sure people with learning disabilities get to vote in the General Election.

About 1.5 million people with a learning disability and more than 700,000 autistic people live in the UK.

Government statistics show that 17 per cent have been turned away from polling stations during previous elections because of their learning disability and nearly two thirds (60 per cent) have said that registering to vote was too hard. 

The majority of those surveyed (97 per cent) said they needed help from support workers, other staff, or family and friends to vote. 

A new practice guide called Promote the Vote has been produced by BASW. 

In a foreword to the guide, co-chairs of Learning Disability England state: “People with a learning disability are amongst the most impacted by government policy and also amongst the most under-represented in the polling booth.

“We hope that voting might be a first step for many into a bigger engagement in politics – and support people to find more power to change their own lives and communities.”

Those with severe impairments are more likely to face barriers to political participation, because it is assumed they lack of mental capacity - yet 90 per cent of people with learning disabilities surveyed by the government expressed a preference for voting in person at polling stations.

Discrimination

Jane Collins is the parent of a disabled adult voter. She said: "I took my son Elliott to the polling station. He knows his own mind; he’s been brought up knowing he’s got rights.

“But we went in, and they were like ‘What's he doing here?’ I said, ‘He's come to vote’ and they said ‘How's he going to do that? Who's going to help him with the pencil? What if I can't understand his voice?’

“It was just so utterly humiliating and just an awful experience. We went again, and had the same experience, so at that point we just changed to postal voting because I just thought I'm not going to put him through that again.”

Disabled people are often steered towards proxy or postal voting rather than being encouraged to turn out in person, separate research has found.

Good practice

Social workers in Bradford have been instrumental in challenging prejudice and barriers to voting in their area, increasing voter turnout among people with learning disabilities fivefold in three years.

The number of people with a learning disability who self-reported they had cast a vote increased from four per cent at the 2019 general election to 14 per cent, 22 per cent and then 25 per cent at subsequent local elections.

The team, based at the local learning disability service, designed and delivered the ‘Promote the Vote’ campaign, which has informed the BASW practice guide. It includes a ‘Voting Passport’ to take to polling stations informing volunteers how they can provide support.

The team produces easy-to-read information and works with electoral officials to raise awareness on registering to vote, voter ID, and support at polling stations. 

Social workers also go into supported living and care homes in Bradford to make sure residents are aware they can vote, and that staff are trained on voting rights.

Matthew Urwin, a social worker from the Bradford learning disability service, said: “We talk to residents about their voting rights and if they understand that they have the right to vote.

“It's a really satisfying part of our work. It's just really lovely having conversations where people are sharing their honest views about our country, about our city. Sometimes we are, for the first time, getting that understanding that they can be involved in all of that through voting.”

Manager Hamza Madni added: “We're not there to talk about individual political parties, we are simply there to have a conversation with individuals to say, ‘You have the right to vote, and no one can stop you’. 

“Interestingly a lot of the time, staff would say that this individual can't vote because they lack capacity.

“The only time when we need to look at the Mental Capacity Act is when there's an individual who wants someone else to vote on their behalf. Then we may need to look at their capacity around who they nominate.

“We are starting to see a shift in mindset where we are going into homes five, six years down the line, and the care providers are saying, ‘We've got the support plans ready’, and that’s fantastic to see.”

In a paper published in the British Journal of Social Work last year, the Bradford team stress the project is consistent with the human rights and social justice values that underpin social work practice.

They cite previous research which found disabled people “called for the professionals who supported them to ‘weaponise their privilege’, becoming an ‘accomplice’ in disrupting the status quo to deliver on the promise of full citizenship”.

Equal voting rights

My Vote My Voice is a website written by and for people with learning disabilities. It is publishing regular blogs in the run-up to the July election to make sure people are aware of their rights. 

The site works with the Electoral Commission to improve accessible voting, and includes advice for social workers and the people they work with on how to write to their local authority to demand they improve the voting experience.

All parties are being asked to produce easy read manifestos – something successive governments have promised but failed to deliver.

Dr Mark Brookes MBE, advocacy lead, urged social workers to check out ‘My Vote My Voice’. 

He said: “It's very accessible and easy to read. We knew one of the issues was around voting ID because people have been turned away. So if you look on the webpage, there's a list of what you can actually do.”

The website also includes a guide to postal voting and how to get someone to vote on your behalf.

However, Dr Brookes added: “We really like people to go and vote in person. It is a really good experience.”

Key Deadlines and further information

More information on voter ID can be seen at the Electoral Commission website – easy read and large print versions are available.

BASW’s Let's Talk Social Work podcast recently dedicated an episode to the Promote The Vote campaign, exploring how social workers can get involved.