Calls for People with Learning Difficulties to be Given a Voice
People with learning difficulties in Leeds are meeting local MPs to demand they be given a say in the general election.
Statistics from Mencap show that 70 per cent of them want to vote - but 60 per cent found the process of registering too complicated.
Carl Shore is one of 50 people who'll be at today’s Question Time event. He works with people with learning difficulties, as well as having a mild disability himself.
“Helping someone to register, the physical act of doing a vote and understanding who to choose…it’s very complicated and there’s not really accessible information,” he says.
“I think everything’s harder for someone with a learning disability. There’s not that right information.
“It takes me longer to process something and to learn something. I think that needs to be appreciated a bit. We need to be given time and accessible information like DVDs and leaflets.”
Today’s event, which has been organised by Connect in the North, will see Leeds MPs answering questions from a group of people with learning difficulties. It aims to encourage them to vote and to ask MPs how their policies will impact on their lives.
“We are holding the ‘Question Time’ event because we are very concerned by how few people with learning difficulties vote,” a Connect in the North spokesperson said.
“Shockingly, 17 per cent of people with learning difficulties didn’t vote because they were turned away from the polling station.
“This is a disturbing statistic which shows that the voice of many citizens is being denied.”
Gregg Mulholland MP is one of those attending the event.
“No one should be excluded from the political process and it is hugely important that people with learning difficulties are allowed to engage in the democratic process and encouraged to vote,” he said.
Carl told Radio Aire he’d like to ask MPs why there isn’t better public understanding about learning disabilities.
“If you don’t know something about someone, it’s quite an intimidating thing,” he says.
“What’s being done so the general public knows about people with disabilities? What’s out there to educate people?
“Most people I know with learning disabilities don’t know what’s out there. They might think that going to a learning centre once a week is normal behaviour. But why can’t they go to a nightclub, or have a car or have their own place and do those things? There’s more out there.”