Voting in the General Election 2024 as a Neurodivergent person
Charli Clement examines how the upcoming UK General Election connects to key issues that affect many Neurodivergent people, and why Neurodivergent people should take this opportunity to cast their vote.
We have created a Simplified Voting Guide for the General Election, available to view online or download from our resource library.
Politics touches every part of our lives, and that’s even more true for neurodivergent and disabled people. With the General Election rapidly approaching on July 4th, there are many reasons why neurodivergent people may not want to vote or face barriers to doing so.
Why should I vote as a neurodivergent person?
Being neurodivergent impacts on both our internal experiences and our external interactions with the world, particularly within a capitalist system where we have little choice but to engage with the state and its functions in ways we might prefer not to.
Voting means having a say on how you believe parties and the government should be tackling systems such as healthcare, education and the welfare state, all of which neurodivergent people are more likely to struggle with or need to engage with disproportionately to their neurotypical peers.
Disabled and neurodivergent individuals often become political footballs for parties to use, and this is particularly amplified during election season. We are demonised for claiming benefits that we deserve or we are made out to be a problem for needing reasonable adjustments. Policies are made and broken by others about putting more support of funding in place. One of the reasons we should be voting is therefore to stand against this and show up as a community for who we believe may truly care for us as a population with legitimate needs, not those who play into the hands of those who believe we are fake or scrounging.
We deserve a proper welfare state that is not hostile and doesn’t see us as only our “economic activity”, and healthcare that has enough time and capacity to properly explore our needs, that can give post-diagnostic support or let us take a bit longer to communicate. We deserve psychiatric care that does not lock away autistic people and people with learning disabilities for an average of almost five years simply because there is not sufficient or appropriate community provision. We deserve an education system that is for every child, regardless of their needs; that allows children to thrive with the adjustments they require.
Showing up to vote as a disabled and neurodivergent person is to count as a marginalised person. Disabled and neurodivergent people are seen as a tiny minority of individuals who do not need to be considered by the rest of society, and this simply isn’t the case. This is particularly important for multiply marginalised individuals who face intersectional issues that are often left behind in politics. We deserve to be counted.
Access to the vote as a neurodivergent person
Voting is part of the right to free elections, which is Article 3 Protocol 1 in the Human Rights Act. If this is to be restricted, it must be a proportionate response and not interfere with free expression of the people. Not having capacity under the Mental Capacity Act or being sectioned under the Mental Health Act do not take away the right to vote.
Some neurodivergent people may find it harder to vote due to accessibility issues with voting, including lack of accessible materials like Easy Read or plain English resources. Parties and candidates should be encouraged to provide more of their resources in such formats (as well as other accessible formats like large print and braille) in order for more people to be able to make an informed decision about where they place their vote.
Similarly, some neurodivergent people may struggle to process the rafts of information about accessing the vote itself whether that be by postal, proxy or in-person voting. There are so many different aspects of registration, deadlines and eligibility to understand.
At Neurodiverse Connection we have made a Simplified Voting Guide to the General Election 2024 that compiles the information in a way that is hopefully more easily accessible, including Frequently Asked Questions that individuals might have that aren’t clearly answered elsewhere.
Research has also shown that disabled people are less likely to have a form of photo ID that can act as Voter ID to use when voting at a polling station as has been necessary since the 2023 local elections, which can cause disenfranchisement of voters and makes some neurodivergent people less likely to vote. If you do not have a piece of photo ID that is approved to be Voter ID, you can apply for a Voter Authority Certificate before 26th June 2024 for this General Election—there is more information on this in our voting resource.
Neurodivergent people deserve to feel empowered and affirmed when voting. That includes having accessible information and truly free access to their vote, as well as candidates and parties including them throughout policy and campaigning.
