Submission on Improving Access to the 2011 General Election and Referendum for Disabled People
The Chief Electoral Office issued a discussion paper on Improving Access to the 2011 General Election and Referendum for Disabled People.
The Foundation's submission supported the need for accessible information in a range of formats and emphasised the need to develop secret voting methods for blind and partially sighted people.
Full text of submission
Name of organisation represented: Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind
Name of contact person from organisation: Moira Clunie
Disability(ies) represented: Blindness, partial sight, deafblindness
This submission represents the input from: 3 staff. The Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind is New Zealand's primary provider of vision-related habilitation and rehabilitation services to blind and partially sighted people. We have around 11,500 blind and partially sighted members, including many who are deafblind. (number of people)
Postal address: Private Bag 99941, Newmarket, Auckland 1149
Phone number: (09) 355 6938
Email address: mclunie@rnzfb.org.nz
Do you wish to be heard in respect to this submission? Yes
1. Referendum on the voting system
1.1. Information format
The Electoral Commission will undertake a public information campaign that will explain the details of the alternative voting systems.
We would like to know which format or formats information about the alternative voting systems would be useful for disabled people.
Which of the following formats would information about the alternative voting systems be useful for disabled people? (You may tick more than one box)
X Simple language, pictorial resource
X Elections website
X Sign Language DVD
X Braille
X Large print
X Audio
X Other (specify) Accessible electronic text (e.g. email)
Comments
One of the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind's strategic priorities is supporting an accessible and equitable society by removing barriers to full participation. Access to information is one of the biggest barriers that blind and partially sighted people face in a society that still presents most information in a visual format. It is estimated that globally, less than 5% of information available in print is also available in formats accessible to blind and partially sighted people.
Providing information in accessible formats is a critical part of removing this barrier. The Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind commends the intention to continue producing information in accessible formats, and submits that:
1. Providing information in a range of formats is important to meet the needs of all blind and partially sighted people. Our members have a range of eye conditions that affect reading in different ways, and a range of skills and literacies in using different media. Producing information in braille, audio, large print and accessible electronic text will meet the needs of most of our members.
2. Delivering information through an accessible website is an excellent way to meet the needs of blind and partially sighted people who use technology to access the web. Appendix A of the consultation document outlines the work done before the last election to make the Elections website accessible. We recommend that the site be audited and upgraded if necessary to meet the new New Zealand Government Web Standards 2.0: http://www.webstandards.govt.nz/ In particular, the current website makes extensive use of PDF documents which do not meet accessibility guidelines.
3. People who are blind or partially sighted may also have other impairments which affect the way they read information. A small number of our deafblind members use New Zealand Sign Language. Others may have intellectual impairments as well as sight loss, and may benefit from simple language versions of information. When producing information in these formats, please consider the needs of those with vision impairment as well - for example, consider producing each simple language version in accessible formats as well, perhaps making the information large print by default.
4. When producing video material such as television advertisements, consider incorporating audio description as well as captioning, or script the video so that it can be understood without watching the visuals. Audio description is a separate audio track for blind and partially sighted people, which describes the visual action on-screen.
5. Information is provided in a range of different languages on the Elections website. We ask that you consider making this information available in accessible formats as well. Blind and partially sighted people are as diverse as New Zealand's population, and not all speak or read English confidently. Providing accessible HTML versions of brochures would help to meet this need, as they could be accessed directly by some blind and partially sighted people, and could be quickly converted to braille or large print on demand if requested. We note that some information is already provided in audio format, which will also help meet the needs of some of our members.
The Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind provides a range of services to other agencies to support accessible communication. Our Accessible Format Production team converts print and electronic material into formats that are accessible to blind and partially sighted people: braille, audio, large print and accessible electronic text. Our Adaptive Technology team provides advice on making websites accessible for blind and partially sighted people who use adaptive technology to access the web. The Chief Electoral Office has worked with us in the past to produce materials in accessible formats. We would welcome opportunities to work together to ensure election information is accessible to our members.
1.2. Communication method
What is the best method or methods to communicate information about the general election and referendum to disabled people? (You may tick more than one box)
X Conduct a travelling Roadshow around New Zealand bringing information about the referendum on the voting systems, enrolling and voting directly to voters, including disability organisations and disabled people.
X Provide information about the enrolling and voting in the general election and referendum on television and radio.
X Other (specify)
Work with disability organisations like the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind to promote the information through our community networks.
Advertise the availability of accessible format information through all available channels, and wherever copies of the print material are distributed.
Comments
Once information has been produced in accessible formats, distributing information to the individuals who need it can be a significant challenge.
We suggest that the Electoral Commission allows individuals to specify their preferred information format (for example print, braille, audio, large print, email, NZSL) and records this with their enrolment details. This would allow the Electoral Commission to send information to individual voters in an appropriate format which they can read independently. Information could include enrolment update packs, voter information packs, instructions for the EasyVote card and example copies of ballot papers. This initiative may have benefits beyond the disability community, for example many New Zealanders may prefer to receive information by email instead of in print.
2. Additional information
2.1. Any other comments / suggestions relating to disability issues at general elections or referenda
The Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind acknowledges the Chief Electoral Office's many positive steps towards accessibility in recent elections, and we welcome this opportunity to give input into improving access. In particular, the Chief Electoral Office's provision of information in accessible formats has supported our members to participate in elections on a more equitable basis.
We understand that electronic voting is not being considered in this consultation, but emphasise that this is a crucial issue for consideration in future. We commend the intention to revisit this issue following the 2011 election. Developing an accessible voting method such as electronic voting, telephone voting or braille voting cards will allow blind and partially sighted people to express the right to vote "by secret ballot" as provided for in the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. Currently, most blind and partially sighted New Zealanders have to rely on friends, family or strangers to assist them with voting. Accessible telephone voting was successfully used in the recent Australian federal election to allow blind Australians to cast a secret vote for the first time in history. More information about this system is available on the Vision Australia website, at: http://www.visionaustralia.org/info.aspx?page=2338 . The Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind offers secure telephone voting and braille cards as voting options for our own governance elections each year. We would welcome the opportunity to provide more information about these accessible voting options.
The consultation document explains that the Electoral Commission is not responsible for the accessibility of campaign materials. We acknowledge this, but suggest that the Commission could provide leadership in this area by providing candidates with information about the importance of information accessibility.
Finally, we note that this consultation process itself has had accessibility limitations. This electronic form is not designed so that it can be filled out by a blind person using a screen reader to access Microsoft Word. The form fields are not labelled, so a screen reader would simply announce a list of blank boxes, rather than reading the questions. For future consultation processes, we encourage the Electoral Commission to ensure that consultation documents and forms are designed for accessibility and available in a range of formats, to ensure that the views of the community are heard.
