Local elections are coming up in May, and we want to share why we feel voting can make a real difference.
We understand it can feel like councils don’t listen to you, or that nothing ever changes. But for the people we care for, having a voice genuinely matters — especially when decisions affect care, community support, and everyday life.
We are keen to ensure the voices of people with a learning disability and autistic people are heard and their political views and votes are accepted. As family carers it often falls to us to explain how to vote, support our family members to vote and help them to understand the information shared about who to vote for.
Many political parties have easy read information on their websites. If you find one that doesn’t you can ask them to produce this for accessibility.
Essex County Council has produced a useful easy read voting passport, which helps people explain the reasonable adjustments they will need when voting. For example this can allow someone to support them in the polling booth .
My Vote My Voice is a great website which explains in easy read
- What voting is
- How to register
- Proxy voting and postal voting
- and many other useful guides