Just 10% of people with learning disabilities supported voted in the last election – proof that people are still disengaged from the electoral system.
The charity Dimensions is launching its Love Your Vote campaign to increase awareness and the number of people who vote, in a bid to engage people in helping to shape the future of their country and local communities. Working alongside the Houses of Parliament Outreach Service, the campaign will involve a series of workshops starting in the autumn, open to the people supported by Dimensions and the wider learning disability community to explain the parliamentary process and how to vote.
The campaign also aims to inform people how to lobby their local MP about issues that affect their lives and demonstrate what impact lobbying has. The organisation is keen to educate people about voting to help them further with personalising their support and lobby MPs about what would help them in the social care sector.
The workshops around the country are scheduled to begin in the autumn and places need to be booked in advance. See the Dimensions website for details.
The campaign is supported by the House of Commons Speaker, John Bercow, who regularly speaks on behalf of the Houses of Parliament Outreach Service at conferences and events. Interviewed by i (the newspaper) , 20th Oct., he emphasised “We should do more to consider how people with a learning disability can be drawn into the national conversation”, citing specifically, and as a conspicuous example of current inadequacies, the unavailability of easy-read information about Parliament.