3.6.2024

Political participation of people with disabilities — New developments

The report by the EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) presents developments since 2014 on political participation of people with disabilities in elections in the EU Member States and at the EU level. The four main themes in the report are legal capacity, accessibility, rights awareness and opportunities for people with disabilities to political participation.

Many EU countries have made it easier for people with disabilities to exercise their right to political participation by removing restrictions on the right to vote and stand for elections based on legal capacity. Yet, in some EU countries people under legal guardianship are still automatically excluded from voting. While accessibility standards have made it easier for people to vote, people with visual, hearing or intellectual disabilities face considerable barriers, such as a lack of tactile voting devices, information in Braille, audio or easy read formats. There are also administrative barriers to obtaining information, registering to vote and obtaining support during elections.

As ways to ensure equal opportunities the report suggests lifting restrictions on the right to vote and stand for elections and increasing the accessibility of voting, facilities and election materials. Efforts should be made to provide disability awareness training for election authorities and to involve disability organisations in training and throughout the election process. The report also identifies promising practices, such as accessible campaigns, action plans for public broadcasters, as well as providing dedicated transport to facilitate voting.

The collective report by FRA is accompanied by separate country overviews on human rights indicators on political participation of people with disabilities. The country data was collected within the framework of FRA’s multidisciplinary research network, FRANET. The Institute for Human Rights at Åbo Akademi University, together with the Faculty of Law at the University of Turku, currently form the national focal point of FRANET in Finland. The country study on Finland was compiled by Kristiina Vainio of the Institute for Human Rights.