A supporter's story
Ruth Neeson is a team leader for United Response. Last year, she and her team supported six people with learning disabilities to vote in local elections.
Ruth explains:
"I think voting is something that can often be overlooked when it comes to supporting people. But we felt that it was a basic right and that people should have the choice as they do in every other area of their lives.
"All six people had specific communication needs and we were aware that at that time they didn't have a full understanding of the democratic process. But we knew that they were able express a preference when the information was presented to them in a way they understood. So, we set about trying to do that.
"One of the things we did was to write to each of the local candidates and invite them to the house to meet their potential voters.
"Unfortunately, none of the candidates were able to make it along in person, but two of the parties did send a representative. And this gave us the opportunity to explain the importance of visuals as a communication tool.
"We use a lot of photos and images in our work, as this is how the people we support prefer to communicate. Used correctly, images can help with recognition. With this in mind, we were concerned that the people living at the house might find it confusing if they were visited by the representative rather than the candidate and so we suggested that they bought along a photo of the candidate with them.
"Most parties do include a photo on their literature. But the photos are often in black or white or tinted, both of which make it difficult for someone with Autism to link the image with the real person.
"The representatives seemed surprised when we explained this to them. I don't think they'd ever thought about it in this way before. But they were interested and one did bring along a new photo of his candidate for us to use, which worked well."
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. One of the problems was though that only four of them were physically able to go to the polling station. But they were really pleased to find out that the other two could cast their vote online through Rushmore Borough Council's website.
"Using the site was a very positive experience. There were options for viewing information in large print and in easy read versions, both of which made it a lot easier for us to explain things and for the people concerned to cast their vote."
On reflection
Reflecting on her team's experience of supporting people to vote, Ruth said:
"We have learnt a lot through our local elections experience. As part of the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act, we are currently putting together decision making profiles for each of the people living at the house and looking at the capacity of each person to vote will definitely form part of that.
"Supporting people to do this properly can take a lot of time, so it's really important to plan ahead and not to leave it until an election comes around. Having more information which is accessible would make a huge difference."
