After 2020 Election, Disability Communities Are Hopeful for Change

HPOD's Senior Associate Ari Ne'eman joins WNYC's The Takeaway to discuss the hopes for change post-election. Ari’s talk builds on HPOD’s fall events that shone a light on the importance of persons with disabilities’ right to political participation both in the United States and around the globe. 

Changes to electoral processes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have both erected additional barriers—as evidenced in the Supreme Court’s recent grant of an application for stay in Merrill v. People First of Alabama—or opened new pathways to political participation by persons with disabilities—as did Massachusetts’ agreement to provide electronic ballots to voters with disabilities. In the walkup to the 2020 U.S. general election, where election observers will be closely monitoring the accessibility of modified procedures, on October 22, 2020 HPOD hosted a panel of speakers to share insights into ensuring persons with disabilities enjoy equal opportunities to vote in future challenging electoral environments across the globe in order to fulfill their Article 29 right under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to political participation.

During the panel, Janet E. Lord, an HPOD Senior Associate, shared good practices from Egypt, Bangladesh, and Ghana for promoting and protecting persons with disabilities’ electoral access. Essie Pederson, an advisor to Self Advocates Becoming Empowered (SABE) and co-director of the National Technical Assistance Center for Voting and Cognitive Access, shared findings from SABE’s 2018 GoVoter survey, including the significant impact that poll workers have on voters with disabilities’ experiences. (To participate in SABE’s 2020 GoVoter survey, click here.) Bryan Russell Mujica, the first Peruvian with Down syndrome ever to run for a Parliament seat, emphasized the importance of persons with intellectual disabilities participating politically not only by voting but also by running for office. Elizabeth Kamundia, assistant director in the Research, Outreach and Advocacy Directorate at the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, discussed the detrimental effects of COVID-19 on diverting scarce resources away from ensuring electoral accessibility, while also highlighting good practices, such as ensuring that poll worker trainings are accessible to persons with disabilities. Finally, Alberto Vásquez is President of SODIS, a Peruvian NGO focused on disability law and policy, reflected on his involvement in advocacy efforts to restore voting rights to more than 23,000 persons with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities in Peru, while also underscoring the remaining barriers they face to exercising legal capacity.

In the Q&A portion of the event, participants shared promising practices from around the world, including ongoing electoral accessibility litigation against Slovenia in the European Court of Human Rights, in which HPOD has intervened as amicus curiae. Another participant described a Swedish NGO’s initiative to form a study circle for persons with intellectual disabilities to learn about political candidates that culminated in a tailored debate among candidates held in easy read format. Another participant from Cameroon described the additional barriers that persons with disabilities face in conflict zones.

This event followed an October 16, 2020 self-advocates-only HPOD event featuring Self-Advocates Becoming Empowered (SABE) trainers Darren Morris and Melody Cooper, as part of its monthly “Can They Do That?” webinar series for self-advocates. Darren and Melody imparted knowledge and lessons about self-advocates’ voting rights in the context of the upcoming general election, while also highlighting the importance of civic engagement beyond election cycles. HPOD hosted a follow-on event on November 4, 2020, where self-advocates shared their experiences participating in the 2020 U.S. general election.