local council for persons living with disabilities finds

FINDINGS from a recent observation of Guyana’s Local Government Elections (LGE) show that a significant number of polling stations were not easily accessible to individuals with disabilities.

The report presented by Ganesh Singh, Programme Manager of Guyana Council of Organisations for Persons Living with Disabilities (GCOPD), stated that over 55.9 per cent of polling stations in certain regions lacked easy accessibility due to stairs. Additionally, only 12.3 per cent of the facilities had ramps installed.
The LGEs allow Guyanese to vote for the councillors of their Local Authority Areas (LAAs). Guyana has 70 NDCs and 10 municipalities, inclusive of Georgetown.
Prior to the June LGE polls, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) provided observer status to members and volunteers of GCOPD.
Singh also disclosed that the organisation received support from the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) and the USAID Youth Advocacy, Linkage, Leadership in Elections and Society programme.

With this support, volunteers were able to visit several polling stations.
“It is very important for us as a movement to have the evidence to inform our advocacy and advocating for more inclusive elections is something that we’ve been working on since 2011,” Singh said.

The body, he said, has made some strides, however, much more is needed to be done to see the accessibility and the inclusion of persons living with disabilities.
“So, I hope that this report and the findings that I will present to you can be able to make concrete strides forward and continue forward, not back.”
Speaking further on the findings of the report, Lata Devie Jagmohan, a volunteer and observer who was stationed in Region Six, said her experience was disappointing.
“Oftentimes we wonder why persons with disability don’t come out and vote and I have a better understanding being an observer that day. I was privileged to be chosen to be one of the observers because I have learned so much just walking into these polling stations, but it was very much heart-wrenching to me walking out speechless because I observed 55 polling stations and not one being accessible in Berbice was very disappointing to me.”

Sharing a similar experience, Gabriel Gilkes, a wheelchair user, explained that he could not vote at his polling station because it was not easily accessible to him.
Gilkes noted that he visited several polling stations in greater Georgetown and while there were many deficiencies, he did however state that staff were very accommodating to persons living with disabilities and provided the necessary assistance.

Delving further into the report, Singh revealed that while 87. 1 per cent of observed polling stations were located on the ground floor, only 1.4 per cent of those had elevators or lifts to assist persons.

Just over 51.7 per cent of polling stations had obstacle-free access to the voting booth, while no tactile ballots and marking guides nor braille or audio voter guides were observed, which would have seen visually impaired persons not being able to vote independently.

Recommendations were made to improve polling station accessibility for persons with disabilities, including training for polling officers and legislative amendments.
“The measures that are currently there which doesn’t really facilitate independent voting…we want to go further. We want them to be trained on the best practices, and also how to adequately set up the polling area, the polling booths and so on to fully accommodate someone with a disability,” the GCOPD Programme Manager said.