Members of the Canadian Disability Policy Alliance examined the Ontario election campaign of 2011 to identify the extent to which it “opened doors” to electoral participation for persons with disabilities. A recent publication, More Than Voting Booths: Accessibility of Electoral Campaigns for People with Disabilities in Ontario, outlines the findings.
Obstacles to electoral involvement for persons with a disability are not limited to inaccessible polling sites. Meeting venues, campaign offices and constituency offices are all central to the effective functioning of Canadian democracy. The study used a survey and document review approach to compose a snapshot of election and campaign accessibility in Ontario in 2011. Party leaders were polled to seek their official position on disability issues and accessibility in their campaign and their platform. Thirty individual candidates were approached from each of the 3 official parties and from 10 ridings across Ontario. Candidates were asked about campaign offices, candidate meetings and website accessibility. Websites and campaign materials were also reviewed for the three parties for any mention of disability or accessibility.
As part of this project, the Campaign Office Accessibility Checklist was developed to assess constituency offices and meeting venues for equity and accessibility to disabled citizens.