by Rab Bruce’s Spider

Twitter @RabBrucesSpider

DECEMBER’S General election produced very contrasting results for those of us who support the idea of Scotland becoming a normal, selfgoverning country. On the one hand, the SNP gains delivered yet another mandate to Nicola Sturgeon, while the inevitable Tory victory in England has left the entire UK facing decades of austerity and increasing social inequality. However, plenty of people who are better qualified than me have written about the political situation, so I’m going to talk about another aspect of the Election which produced contrasting experiences.

I’m talking about the physical act of voting for people who are visually impaired. From social media on the day of the Election, I know some people were delighted that use of technology had allowed them to vote independently and in private, perhaps for the first time. Others, though, shared my experience which was very far from satisfactory.

It must be said that some small steps have been taken to improve accessibility for VIPs. Large print ballot papers are available for people who still have some vision but not enough to use the standard ballot paper. There are also braille ballot papers although, as I’ve mentioned before, the percentage of blind people who can read Braille is actually very low. However, these advances have allowed some VIPs to vote independently, so that is great news.