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HomeNewsLearning DisabilityEasy to read manifestos for learning disabled voters

Easy to read manifestos for learning disabled voters

The word Vote on a red ballot box for collecting votes and balloEASY to read versions of the five main political party’s manifestos are now available for people with learning disabilities.

The Easy Read manifestos use straightforward language and pictures, which make it easier for people with communication difficulties to understand what each party stands for.

The Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats and UKIP worked with Mencap to produce the guides, with the Greens also producing their own accessible version.

Ismail Kaji, Mencap’s Parliamentary Affairs Assistant, said:

“I wrote to all the party leaders last year asking them to produce an Easy Read version of their manifestos.

“Many people with a learning disability did not vote in the last election and we want to change that.

“Lots of people with a learning disability who didn’t vote in the local elections last year said that they didn’t know which party to vote for. This is no surprise as politicians use really complicated language and jargon that is hard to follow.

“The Easy Read manifestos use simple language and pictures, which make it easier to understand what each party is promising. This will mean that people with a learning disability feel more valued and included and understand why their vote counts.

“They can then make their own choice about who they want to vote for at the General Election.”

Research for Mencap’s Hear My Voice General Election campaign shows that people with a learning disability have a political appetite and want to vote, but many are excluded from the process and aren’t able to exercise their democratic right.

This discouraged 64% of people with a learning disability from voting in local elections last May. Of those who didn’t vote, over half (56%) said they didn’t want to vote for any of the political parties because they didn’t understand what they stood for.

All five manifestos are available on Mencap’s website: www.mencap.org.uk/easymanifestos

Fact file

There are 1.4 million people with a learning disability in the UK.
A learning disability is a reduced intellectual ability, which can cause problems with everyday tasks – for example shopping and cooking, or travelling to new places – which affects someone for their whole life.
People with a learning disability can take longer to learn new things and may need support to develop new skills, understand difficult information and engage with other people.
The level of support someone needs is different with every individual. For example, someone with a severe learning disability might need much more support with daily tasks than someone with a mild learning disability.
Learning disability is NOT a mental illness or a learning difficulty, like dyslexia. Very often the term ‘learning difficulty’ is wrongly used.

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