VR Voting for Disabled People

Virtual reality technology to make voting easier for disabled people.

22:04 15 April 2019

Mencap, a learning disability charity, has been working on a scheme that aims to make voting less challenging for people with disabilities. Using virtual reality technology, it walks users through the entire voting process - from explaining what canvassers are to showing them how to mark their ballot paper. Mencap is hoping the new project will encourage more disabled people to get on the electoral roll.

 

Dave Morton, who has a learning disability, said that he “never had the confidence” to go out and vote because he found the environment unfamiliar. However, he will be voting this year after being walked through the ins and outs of a polling station.

 

Mencap’s director in Northern Ireland, Margaret Kelly, said: "People with learning disabilities are often excluded in so many ways,"

 

"For me, voting is one of the most basic rights in society and and one of most basic ways of being included as a citizen."

 

"We want to give people the tools and resources to help them vote. We should help people with a learning disability feel a bit more important in our communities,"