Tamara Byrne is a self-advocate working for Inclusion Ireland and representing persons with intellectual disabilities in the EDF Youth Committee. In this testimonial, Tamara talks about her experiences with voting and explains how important it is for Europe to listen to the voices of persons with disabilities.
I do a lot of work about human rights, equality, education and decision-making. It’s important to vote in the European elections so I know that the politicians are working on these too. We need to make sure the MEPs we elect in Europe will fight for our rights.
Europe needs to support people with disabilities to participate in politics
I think everyone should get to vote for what they think is important. Everyone should have the right to vote. It wouldn’t be a fair society if some people were allowed to vote, and others weren’t.
In article 29 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), it says that countries will make sure that people with disabilities can participate in politics in the same way everyone else can. That means we should be able to vote and take part in politics just like everyone else.
This Convention says that countries need to make sure that they are giving people with disabilities support and help to take part in politics if they need it.
For people with intellectual disabilities, the most important thing would be to make sure all information is accessible. We can’t vote properly if we don’t understand what the question that’s being asked is or what the different politicians are saying they will do.
Also, there needs to be more politicians who have disabilities. I saw that Spain elected a politician who has Down Syndrome to be in their parliament. This is amazing and if there were more people like that it would inspire people with disabilities to get into politics more.
Hearing and valuing our voices
Most politicians have no clue what it’s like to live with a disability. We need to make sure they listen to our voices so they can make changes to make the world more accessible for us. Then we can have equal rights.
To politicians, I would say: Don’t forget that there are a lot of disabled people in Europe, and you need our vote. So, what will you do to make sure we are heard?
And for people who make decisions about how elections are organised: Put time and effort into trying to get people with disabilities to feel important in politics and elections instead of just leaving us behind.
Elections are not fair if a big group of people feel like they won’t be listened to, so they don’t bother voting. Everyone needs to give their opinion. We just need some encouragement and support.
My experiences with voting
I think it’s important for me to do things differently in voting.
When I was voting in the past in Ireland, I found it hard to understand what the vote was about and what the options were.
There should be more accessible information from governments that tell people what the election is about. It should give them all the information in a way that’s easy to understand so they can make the right choice for them.
All the parties and politicians should also make all their information Easy-to-Read so we can understand what they are saying they will do if they get elected.
When there were elections on in Ireland, I saw people voting on the news, but I didn’t know how I could vote myself. There should be accessible videos explaining to people how they can vote and take part. This would make the election process easier to understand for people like me.