Your role
Political stakeholders have very different roles. Some of you may currently serve as political representatives. Some of you are responsible for running elections and maintaining electoral registers. Whatever your specific role in the democratic process, there are a set of clear principles that will help you to be more inclusive in carrying out your duties.
This section explains how to approach making democracy more accessible. It covers information from the need to tell people what you do, through to inclusive planning. The aim is to encourage you to be proactive, creative and inclusive when it comes to fulfilling your role.
Tell people what you do
Many people may not be aware of your role. This applies whether you are a potential or actual local politician, MP, MEP or employed by a local authority.
Explain to people what you do and how you do it. For example, many people are confused about the difference between what a local politician does and the role of an MP or an MEP.
Find easy and accessible ways of telling people about the things you do. Make sure that you have done all you can to let people know what your responsibilities are and how they can go about contacting you.
Similarly, people are often not aware of the role of many people employed by their local authority to provide services for them.
Keep in touch with the people you work for, or represent. Do what you can to tell people about what you do and to get feedback from people about how you are doing it.
Rather than waiting for people to come to you, be proactive and seek out this feedback from all sections of your community.
Consult with people
One of the best ways to find out how to involve and include people with a learning disability is simply to ask them.
You may want to consult about a range of things, from planning services and policies, to asking for feedback on information that you have produced.
The Department of Health, for example, have considerable experience in this area. They regularly involve people with a learning disability in consultations and are good at making information available in different formats.
Resources and training are available to help explain how consultation like this can be carried out, for example:
- There are many self advocacy organisations who may be able to help, like CHANGE, Speaking Up and People First.
- United Response has a lot of experience in making information accessible and promoting inclusive practices. It supports UR Consultants. This is a social enterprise of people with learning disabilities who engage in this kind of work for many public organisations.
- The Government Office of Disability Issues has published a toolkit called 'Producing better information for disabled people — A toolkit for local authorities'. This has advice about how to involve and consult people with a disability.
Provide information
Providing information for people with a learning disability is not just about producing accessible information. It is also about ensuring that people know where and how they can get the information that they need.
When producing information, whether a campaign leaflet, details of upcoming elections, or news and feedback, you should always consider how to make the information you produce as accessible as possible. It is a common complaint that information is not clear enough. People want to be able to find the key points of any information quickly, and for the related information to be easy, clear and concise.
The principles of accessible information ensure that it is not just people with a learning disability who will benefit. People with low literacy, people who do not have English as their first language and people in general will all benefit from clear and straightforward information.
The Plain English campaign states:
'We define plain English as writing that the intended audience can read, understand and act upon the first time they read it. Plain English takes into account design and layout as well as language.
Plain English is needed in all kinds of public information, such as forms, leaflets, agreements and contracts. The golden rule is that plain English should be used in any information the public rely on when they make decisions.'
These points apply to producing information for people with a learning disability, but often much more than just writing is needed to make information fully accessible. Ideas to help you with this are covered in our 5 Point Guide.
Use as many methods as possible to get information to people. Do not just rely on one method. For example, setting up a website can be a fantastic way to provide accessible information to people. However, many people still do not access the internet at all and so you should think about a range of ways in which you can pass on information to people in your area. For example, leaflets and newsletters may be a great way to tell people some of the things they should know.
Plan things
There are a range of different activities that you may be planning, from holding an election or referendum, to running a surgery or constituency meeting.
Do not just stick to established ways of doing things. Be creative and innovative and think again about how you could make these activities easier for people to get involved in.
Ask people about their previous experiences of these activities and be prepared to use this feedback to challenge the established ways of organising and delivering these events.
Be proactive. Tell people in advance about events that are happening. Do not always expect people to come to you for information. Fully publicise events in your area and make sure this publicity is accessible.
Get as much input into planning activities as you can, as well as getting honest feedback after any activity or event you organise.
