Smitha Sadasivan has been relentless in her pursuit to make the elections accessible to the disabled.
Though there have been improvements over the years, there’s still a lot more to do, she opines
CHENNAI:Inclusivity and accessibility for People with Disabilities (PwD) in all sectors has been gaining momentum and support across the city over the last few years. With ‘Right to Vote’ being one of the key rights in the constitution, people from the disability sector, like Smitha Sadasivan in Tamil Nadu, have been working relentlessly to make the Indian elections accessible to voters with disability. In a tête-a-tête with CE, Smitha talks about challenges, past-polling experiences and new requests posed by the disabled for the elections.
Smitha has been working with the Disability Rights Alliance (DRA) from as early as 2006. From meeting electoral officers to submitting feedback and suggestions from PwDs, she has taken the process forward, despite initial rejection. “It was tough initially….to get everyone to listen; slowly, we came to an agreement to make it inclusive. But, the agreement was hogwash! Only 50% of polling booths had ramps and they weren’t of good standard. There were other obstacles besides the ramps,” recalls Smitha.
In October 2015, after attending a regional conference in Sri Lanka on disability participation, Smitha calls it a changing point. “Election commissioners from all SAARC nations were present at the conference and I had the chance to meet the Indian EC.
He assured us that he will take it up and was sensitised about the cause,” she shares.
A joint agreement on implementing inclusive and accessible elections was signed by all the SAARC country election commissioners and Smitha says with that document she approached the then chief electoral officer of Tamil Nadu Rajesh Lakhoni. “When he was appointed as TN’s chief electoral officer (CEO), he listened to our requests. That’s how things started,” she narrates.
Since then, the polling scenario for the disabled has changed considerably, but, it’s not in ‘full-throttle’, she opines.
Looking at accessibility in all areas, she points to Systematic Voter Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) and says that the awareness programmes conducted by SVEEP have to be accessible. “The venue and information communicated to spread awareness on the election should be made accessible for people with different disabilities.”
For instance, the pamphlets should be given in Braille for people with vision disability and there should be a sign language interpreter for people with hearing disability. “The main way to conduct awareness programme is street plays. We engaged with the Chennai Corporation during the 2016 elections and assigned sign language interpreters. People with hearing disabilities were happy to receive the information and be part of the cultural programme,” she smiles.
Smitha opines that polling booths should have ramps and also be accessible in terms of availability of drinking water, accessible toilets, spacious voting rooms, polling compartments and so on. “It has to be obstacle-free till the voting compartment. In the 2016 elections, we received reports from booths that weren’t accessible…but compared to where we started, I would say Chennai has set a standard for the upcoming elections!” she exclaims.
Sensitising electoral officials on disability laws, interacting with PwDs, and developing an app called Election Audit to help audit accessibility of booths are some of the ongoing projects. “These audits will determine the facilities available in the polling stations and will directly be connected to the server of the CEO,” she elucidates.
Mock polling camps for people with psychosocial disabilities and intellectual disabilities are other aspects that need work. “Last year, we had corporation officials bring electronic voting machines and demonstrate how to cast a vote. This allowed people to do it themselves. This is not only a need for PwDs but for everyone,” she points out.
How quick is the grievance redressal mechanism? “It has varied from case to case. Sometimes it has been quick, but in many cases it hasn’t been accessible. Even if there isn’t a system, the grievance redressal has to be taken seriously. We have been trying to make the mechanism more accessible and need more support from the government,” she says.
With the turnout of PwD voters in electoral process being low, Smitha says that having alternative voting methods such as postal, online or mobile voting will come a long way. “For many PwDs, accessible polling booths are not helpful. In such cases, we need alternative methods…this is a request from all TN districts and states across the country,” she avers.
With no accurate data on the number of PwD voters in the state, Smitha adds, “We have requested for a booth-wise and disability-wise segregation to have a number of voters. Other states are doing well with disability voters data, while TN is still behind.”