The elections are coming up fast and one population that has often encountered barriers at the voting booth are people with disabilities.
In fact, one in five voters with disabilities either needed assistance or had difficulty voting in the last election, according to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.
Jon Meyers, executive director of the Arizona Developmental Disabilities Planning Council, says for people living with disabilities, the biggest challenge when it comes to voting is attitudinal.
"We have seen countless instances, in which individuals with, for example, Down syndrome or some other cognitive or developmental disability that is evident to other members of the public, they've come to a polling place and the poll worker has refused to allow them to vote."
Because, he says, the poll worker has assumed that they are incapable of casting a ballot. "And so sometimes they've been denied the right to vote," he said.
Meyers says people with physical disabilities or those who use a mobility device often run into physical barriers.
The right to vote
People living with dementia or other intellectual or developmental disabilities have the right to vote unless they’ve been adjudicated otherwise. Even so, it means going to polling places prepared.
"You know, the most obvious thing is to make sure that whatever documentation they have is in hand when they go to the polling place … if they’re going to vote in person. It's somewhat offensive to the disability community that they should have to prepare to a greater extent than other people," Meyers said.
But he says that is the reality facing the disability community.
