engleski

Voting opportunities for people with disabilities

The aim of this article is to analyze the political rights of people with disabilities and gain insight of their interest in politics, especially their ambition to be actively involved in political life and to make political decisions, which are important for their specific issues. Republic of Croatia signed and ratified numerous documents like the Convention of rights for persons with disability (Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2006) that promotes social and political activities, equal and undisputed use of voting rights for every person. According to the Croatian institute for public health, more than one-tenth of the Croatian population are people with disabilities, thus they can significantly influence on the political atmosphere and change it. For these reasons a need to investigate voting opportunities of people with disabilities is recognized. 145 respondents with intellectual disabilities, physical disabilities and people with visual impairments from different places in Croatia participated in this study. For research purposes, a questionnaire containing eight questions to examine the awareness of people with disabilities of various difficulties, age, gender, and place of residence, their knowledge of the voting rights, social activities and adaptation options at polling stations was created. The results were analyzed by quantitative method of data processing χ2 test and method of correlation. The results showed statistically significant differences in all measured variables and they indicate the need for more customized information for people with disabilities of their voting right. There is also a need to adjust and improve voting opportunities for all people with disabilities regardless of difficulty, age, gender and place of residence. Set aside was a group of respondents with visual impairment, which due to inadequacy of the ballot, in more cases than people with physical and intellectual disabilities, was not given a chance of independent and secret voting.

right to vote, voting opportunities, politics, disabilities

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