Including Voters with Disabilities in Your Campaign
Candidates and staff should support accessibility of your political campaign. Even simple modifications will help to maximize the number of voters with disabilities that are reached.
For example, if a campaign video is posted on YouTube, subtitles can be added for free by a volunteer or staff person. Subtitles benefit not only voters who are deaf or hard-of-hearing, but also voters who may be watching your video on mute in public spaces.
Disability representation also makes a positive statement and is easy to implement. If you use pictures of voters in your campaign materials, you could include a photo of a voter with a disability. As part of campaign speeches and presentations, you could highlight support for disability rights issues as part of your campaign message.
Resources are below to help you learn more.
Pro-Tip
Designate a staff person or small team who is in charge of coordinating accessibility.
Resources
Overall Campaign Accessibility
This booklet from the Alaska Protection and Advocacy System covers captioning, public events, communications, websites, staff training, and inclusion in your campaign.
Reaching Voters with Disabilities
The Disability Action Center NW has a short booklet on accessibility and communication etiquette.
Why to Engage Voters with Disabilities
Trade magazine Campaigns and Elections dives into opportunities to engage the disability voting bloc and basic steps to take.
Interacting with Voters who have Disabilities
This booklet from United Spinal reviews some basic tips on meeting and socializing with voters who have disabilities.
Hosting Campaign Events
Alice Wong, founder of the Disability Visibility Project and #CripTheVote, interviewed two disability rights advocates about their experiences with campaign events and their recommendations for accessibility.
Social Media
As you use social media to reach voters, be sure to implement accessibility best practices so that people with hearing, vision, or reading disabilities can get your message.
Captioning Campaign Videos
Adding captions on YouTube is another easy way to make your campaign more accessible. Its as easy as adding a a typed transcript or manually transcribing from the video.