In Italy people with Down’s syndrome can vote by themselves

by Ivano Abbadessa - 2013.02.04

In collective imagination, people affected by the Down’s Syndrome can’t vote, or can do it only once, with a helper. This belief – documented in a video-interview recently published on the Web – is shared by many polling station presidents, who must often browse through guidelines before allowing that Down voters can enter the booth alone and vote.



Actually, people affected by the Down’s Syndrome, like people who suffer from psychic disorders, who reached awareness, can vote. But how many people are aware? A very few. Often, relatives are not even aware of such a fundamental right. For this reason, in view of the upcoming political elections on 24 and 25 February, the Italian Association for Down People (AIPD) launched the campaign ‘My vote counts!’. The goal is to raise awareness on voting rights for 25 thousand Italian adults affected by the Down’s Syndrome, by asking to political parties to process clear programs with simplified words to help these citizens form their opinion.



The initiative is part of a more general project titled ‘My Opinion My Vote’, funded by the European Commission, meant to help people with intellective disabilities be active citizens through the vote. 1 billion citizens, i.e. 0.1% of European population, have intellective disabilities and most of them do not participate in political life as voters. This is due, among other things, to lack of awareness and education of people with intellective disabilities, their family and social workers, as well as to poor facilitations from public authorities.



Life expectancy of people with the Down’s Syndrome - 62 years today – increased considerably in the last few years. Accordingly, tackling the issue of political rights, and more generally, of citizenship is a priority. Everybody must have the right to vote during elections. Particular attention must be paid to the families of people with intellective disabilities, that must be helped understand that it is important to stimulate their relatives’ job placement and voting rights.