Would you list & discuss Reasonable ACCOMODATIONS & best practices re: public ELECTIONS and AD/HD?

11/07/08

GoodADDitude

Topics:Accomodations , ADHD , Legal Issues , Elections , voting , Best Practices , HAVA , ADA , ADD , vote , Ask The Experts , Adults With ADHD , Related Conditions

I encountered a fair amount of attitudinal and methodological inaccessibility in voting in the presidential election. Most of the election officials seemed hostile toward the touch screen voting systems that are supposed to provide full access and they also spoke about disability, and to some voters with disabiities, in ignorant and disregarding ways. The machine that is supposed to provide synchronized audio and visual (so it would be similar to reading a book while listening to it on a RFB&D CD) did not work and the visual was too bright, fonts too thin and kearning of letters too tight -- all of this (auditory, visual, and social/emotional distress) became very distracting and interfered with ease of casting an independent vote. Also, since there was only one touch screen/audio voting system, and the people running the polling place seemed to steer people away from the machines, the very few people who ended up using them had little confidence that their votes were remaining private. Would you please make suggestions about what would make the voting process (not only the machines, but the entire experience of preparing for and participating on elections day). What would make information, ballots, polling places, training of elections officials and workers, fraud prevention, registration, etc. more accessible to voters with ADD, AD/HD, and related disabilities? I am aware of HAVA, ADA, and some state legal requirements, but they are not specific to learning disabilities and AD/HD. Advocacy efforts would be facilitated by having the AD/HD community, experts and laypeople, address our right to reasonable accomodation in the voting process (and having someone assist us, while for some a useful option, negates our right to independently cast a secret (and accurate) ballot in public elections. {Note: no license to this content is granted by member}

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Answers (2)

Sunday, November 09, 2008

Dr. Diana L Walcutt

Hi GoodADDitude:

Congratulations on being willing to vote, despite your struggles! You mentioned the ADA, but have you called them? There are likely very few things that can be done to accommodate you, but if you were willing to take someone along with you to read and help interpret what the machines are asking, you might be able to get special permission for that.

If you have legal documents indicating your diagnosis, that is, a doctor's diagnosis, or Special Education papers indicating that you were diagnosed as a child with ADD, then you might be able to get special permission. ADD is a childhood diagnosis that has to be diagnosed before the age of 22 in order to be valid.

You may also get a special ruling from a judge to help you in this matter, but again, would have to show special testing reports to prove your problem. If you were not diagnosed as a child, you can still be tested by a Neuropsychologist, but that can be a very expensive proposition and insurance does not pay for it.

Best of luck,

Dr. Diana Walcutt

Thank you for your input
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Wednesday, November 12, 2008

GoodADDitude

With gratitude for the response and effort and with all due respect, the doctor is incorrect in a few important areas. A response from an attorney with expertise in disability law and/or elections law would be very much appreciated. I am not a lawyer and so this is NOT legal advice, but here is some of what I understand already (I was hoping for an answer more sophisticated and detailed than my own understanding):

First, any registered voter may have the assistance of 1 or 2 adults in voting. You do NOT need to ask special permission for this assistance, and it is illegal for anyone to prevent you from having it. Second, we have a consitutional right to cast a secret ballot, a right that is critical to the integrity of our democratic system and helps prevent voter intimidation, which is also (very) illegal. Obviously, a voting system/process that is accessible to a voter with a disability (such as ADHD) only via direct in person assistance from another person precludes the casting of a secret ballot. Accordingly, laws such as the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) require the development and implementation of voting systems that allow every voter to idenpendently cast a secret ballot. This is a basic civil right. See http://ndrn.org/issues/voting/hava/ and links on that site, www.aapd.com and click programs > voting project, and see http://www.eac.gov/vvsg/part1/chapter03.php/?searchterm="disabled%20voters" which is about HAVA accessibility and usability guidelines from the federal goverment's Elections Assistance Commission. Also check your state's election code, as every state has its own rules (and be sure to make suggestions to your state legislature if they are inadequate in terms of disability access and civil rights).

My question was about what specific methods and such would make the system adequately accessible and allow one to independently cast a secret ballot. For example, having the ballot contents and instructions available in audio form as well as visual form so a voter, if he or she chooses, can have multiple sensory input and drown out extraneous and distracting noise in the polling place. But I imagine that there are many other creative things that would improve accessibility of the voting process for people with learning and/or cognitive disabilities, and that the solution I mentioned won't work for everyone in this category. So, what would make voting easier and more user-friendly for you (aside from different candidates! ;) )?

As for qualifying as a person with a disability, is it true that only people diagnosed with ADHD/ADD before age 22 would "count" under ADA and such?? And of course an adult would have to have had neuropsych testing in order to be diagnosed with ADHD/ADD. Don't children also go through age-appropriate neuropsych testing (along with a thorough physical to rule out a gmc causing the symptoms) before clinicians reach an ADHD/ADD diagnosis?

Thanks again for your help!