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One million adults with a learning disability are being wooed by the three main political parties as polls continued to point towards a hung Parliament.
Each of the parties has produced its manifesto in easy read format to explain policies for potential voters.
Learning disability charity Mencap produced the documents in a bid to boost participation in the political process.
Less than 20% of adults with a learning disability in the UK voted in the last general election, according to the charity.
Many said they did not understand what political parties stood for because of the difficult language used.
David Congdon, Mencap's head of campaigns and policy, said: "We are so pleased to see that the political parties are taking notice of people with a learning disability and we are incredibly proud of everyone who made the campaign a success.
"Every British citizen has the right to vote and the power to make change happen. In order to make informed decisions about who best represents their interests, it's essential that people with a learning disability understand the issues and options."
Mencap's campaign assistant Ismail Kaji, who has a learning disability, said: "I will definitely be voting at this election. Now that the manifestos are in easy read, everyone can understand what each party wants to do if they win and can make their own choice."
Beth Haller, Ph.D., is Co-Director of the Global Alliance for Disability in Media and Entertainment (www.gadim.org). A former print journalist, she is a member of the Advisory Board for the National Center on Disability and Journalism (https://ncdj.org/). Haller is Professor Emerita in the Department of Mass Communication at Towson University in Maryland, USA. Haller is co-editor of the 2020 "Routledge Companion to Disability and Media" (with Gerard Goggin of University of Sydney & Katie Ellis of Curtin University, Australia). She is author of "Representing Disability in an Ableist World: Essays on Mass Media" (Advocado Press, 2010) and the author/editor of Byline of Hope: Collected Newspaper and Magazine Writing of Helen Keller (Advocado Press, 2015). She has been researching disability representation in mass media for 30+ years. She is adjunct faculty in the Disability Studies programs at the City University of New York (CUNY) and the University of Texas-Arlington.
From MSN News:
