Less people with learning disabilities are involved in the democratic process than most people thought.
Survey findings
These are some of the things we found out after we did the survey.
Of the people who replied to us, only 2 out of 10 voted in their last local elections and less than 2 out of 10 voted in the last general election.
The Department of Health found in 2001 that about 3 out of 10 people voted in the general election.
Many support workers want to support people better to be part of the democratic process.
Many support staff have come up with creative ways of supporting people.
But many of them felt that there was not enough accessible information to explain differences between candidates and policies in a clear way and this made it difficult.
Remote voting (like by post or online) is making it easier for some disabled people to vote.
Many of the people who replied to us felt that the system was still too complicated, making it difficult for them to support people to make an informed choice.
Things that could help people get involved in the future are training and more accessible information.
And also a better understanding of the needs of people with learning disabilities by politicians and others involved.
