Jakub Gietka is a member of SMA Europe’s Adult Committee, a member of the Social Policy Action Group at EURORDIS, the founder and president of the Aiming for the Future Foundation (Fundacja Celując w Przyszłość), and a change-maker in the Disability Rights in the European Elections (DREE) project. In this testimonial, he discusses the importance of going beyond the basics to facilitate accessible and confidential elections.
The importance of voting in the European elections
First and foremost, for me, voting is the privilege to express what your opinion is on different statements and subjects, but more importantly, a chance to express that anonymously, in a way that can be heard by the representatives that you would like to be elected. Perhaps I’d call it democracy at its finest.
We have ample time every five years to decide to change something for the better – what that is? It depends on the individual. I’d say that that privilege is really important. We are deciding upon the future – for better or worse.
Barriers to voting in the Polish context
There are occasions and circumstances that can make it difficult for everyone to vote. As an example, I would say persons with disabilities who are in nursing homes or care facilities, who are unable to leave their places of residence and express themselves freely.
There is the option to vote by mail, but I wouldn’t consider it the same experience. Instead, you have the option to tell someone to pick the right candidate, where you can feel a little bit judged by the person you’re telling, which can really impact the person with disabilities.
Even if it’s difficult to manage, some better solutions for voting in these cases could be a special environment, via the Internet, or any other possibilities such as having enough election workers to actually go to these facilities in-person where people are living. It could facilitate the process for all persons with disabilities who want to vote independently without problems or without being judged by others. There needs to be better options to address the removal of the confidentiality that is at the base of voting.
It’s important to take a top-down approach: for Europe to encourage member states to implement these things on the national level.
My own voting experiences
I voted in the European elections in 2019. I still remember a glimpse of that experience in my memory and, well, I would say that I’m not sure if my voice was totally heard.
I presume that might be because of the disrupted timeline since that election: war, Covid, and other subjects that took precedence over the topic of persons with disabilities. More emphasis was needed on subjects other than disability rights. I think we are still in the discovery phase of how much Covid affected us – not only in the physical aspect, but also psychologically.
I remember one of the elections that happened before I was eligible to vote, somewhere around 2011 during the national elections here in Poland. In one of the small towns, I couldn’t get into the facility because there were stairs. People were less disability-oriented back then.
Fortunately, it’s all changing, and hopefully it will continue to change for the better. But back then, I remember this one occasion. When we are speaking about accessibility, that access should be for everyone in these public spaces. Even though I wasn’t yet eligible to vote, I was excluded: I couldn’t participate even as an observer, even though I was interested to watch the process. It was sad, but I think that was the only time that something like that happened.
I will vote in these elections. Last year, after my arrival back from Brussels, because I participated in the European Parliament of Persons with Disabilities in May, I had an idea of standing as a candidate, but that’s something I think will come later in my career.
Where I want to see progress
I’m interested in advocating for personal assistance care, which is unfortunately still unavailable on a daily basis in Poland. It’s really constrained in terms of hours given from the government and the public state. There are also certain criteria that make it even more difficult to get support.
Facilitating the independent living of persons with disabilities will also help them unlock their potential. To me, the problem is that we’re only focusing on the single objective of providing the necessary assistance, which unfortunately takes a significant amount of many people’s monthly budget. Then you cannot think of anything other than, how can I manage to go through the day? How can I accomplish the basics?
It needs to be about getting the circumstances in place to not have to worry so much about the basics.
What would I say to those who won’t be voting?
For all those who wouldn’t like to vote, I would say this: If you do not participate in the voting process, you shouldn’t complain, because you didn’t actually take part in the process. You can’t be disappointed with any outcome when you haven’t put your voice into the conversation.
Actions that decision-makers must take
Think about setting a system and initiative that would encourage member states to do something about the accessibility of their elections. For example, we could think about an instruction or a framework that could be extrapolated all over different member states to facilitate those needs that are really the most necessary for the rights of persons with disabilities.
From my perspective, the topic of persons with disabilities is taken out from the drawer and rediscussed for only one year before and after the elections. That’s how I see it, and it shouldn’t be that way. When we are trying to make changes in the long term, it is better to continue taking tiny steps, step by step, rather than trying to propose something large with no specific deadline when it’s politically beneficial to do so.