NGOs want persons with disability to take part in 2013 polls

MANILA, Philippines - A group of non-government organizations (NGOs) will launch this week a nationwide campaign aimed at encouraging more persons with disability (PWD) to take part in the 2013 elections.

The campaign dubbed as “Fully Abled Nation” is part of a three-year “Disability-Inclusive Elections Program” spearheaded by The Asia Foundation with support from the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID).

It also aims to increase voter’s awareness among PWDs, promote institutional partnerships to enhance support for their participatory needs, and strengthen the capabilities of disability peoples’ organizations (DPOs) and NGOs supporting PWD advocacies.

A recent Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed that the number of PWDs who actually voted in the May 2010 elections went done to 54 percent from 60 percent in 2007.

Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Rene Sarmiento cited the need to have accessible polling stations, ballots printed in Braille, sign language interpreters, a party-list representative for PWDs, and a PWD commissioner in the poll body so that PWDs can be able to exercise their right of suffrage.

“There is also a need to campaign among lawmakers to push the rights of the PWDs as voters, to nurture contacts with international agencies concerned with PWDs, establish regional networks, to have an ASEAN committee on PWDs, and for the agencies and groups to exchange best practices,” he said.

Sarmiento is also the poll body’s focal person in the Inter-Agency and NGO Network in Empowering PWDs.

Expected to attend the launch at Shangri-La Makati on Wednesday past noon are PWD champions from DPOs, NGOs, academe, development work sector, international donor organizations, and key government officials who will be signing the Declaration of Commitment to uphold the common struggle for PWD rights.

Also on the guest list is Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes, and the new Australian ambassador.

Various projects under the Fully Abled Nation campaign include an assessment of the situation of PWDs, focus group discussions and dedicated surveys nationwide, piloting electoral reform in Bohol, development and application of disability-inclusive volunteer management systems in Cebu, among others.