A supporter's story

Ruth says:

'I think some people forget about supporting people to vote. But we think it is a basic right and that people should have the choice.'

'All six people had communication needs. We knew they did not understand politics very well.

But we also knew that people were able to make choices when the information was presented to them how they wanted it.'

'We wrote to each of the local candidates and invited them to the house.'

'None of the candidates could come themselves but two of the parties did send someone to represent them.

So we could explain to them how important accessible information is.'

'We use a lot of photos and pictures in our work, because the people we support like to use them to communicate.

We thought that the people living at the house be confused if the person who visited them was not the candidate.

So we asked the person from the political party to bring a photo of the candidate with them.'

'Most political parties have a photo of the candidate on their leaflets.

But the photos are often in black and white, not colour, which makes it difficult for someone with Autism to know the photo is of the candidate.'

'The people who came from the political parties were surprised when we explained this to them.

I don't think they'd ever thought about it before. But they were interested and one person brought a new photo of his candidate for us to use, which was good.'

The local authority website

Ruth explains how her local authority website also made it easier for people to vote.

She says:

'Everyone at the house wanted to vote. But only 4 people could go to the polling station. They were pleased that the other 2 could vote online, using Rushmore Borough Council's website.'

'Using the website was positive. They could access information as large print and easy read. So it was easier for us to explain things and for them to vote.'

Thinking

Thinking about her team's experience of supporting people to vote, Ruth said:

'We have learnt a lot from this experience.

We have to make decision-making profiles for every person living at the house.

We will be looking at the capacity of each person to vote.'

'Supporting people to do this properly can take a long time. It's really important to plan ahead and not to leave it until an election.

Having more accessible information would make a big difference.'