Validation Workshop of "Minimum Standards of Accessible Electoral System and Practical Guidelines on Accessible Voting Process"
Blind Youth Association Nepal (BYAN) has developed minimum standards of accessible electoral systems and practical guidelines for accessible voting process. Thus, a validation workshop was conducted on 16th June, 2022 at Rock House Café, Ratopul, Kathmandu, Bagmati Province to validate the prepared document by the representatives from the government, representatives from various organization of people with disabilities like Prayatna Nepa, Sakchyam Nepal and government agencies. The validation workshop was organized with the objective to build a common understanding of the accessible electoral process for people with disabilities. It was mainly focused on gathering a diverse group of people with disabilities and get their feedback as well as their perception regarding the prepared document and also further, learn their opinions and suggestions regarding the various components that may contribute to make the electoral systems accessible. People with different types of disabilities participated in the workshop which included blind, partially sighted, physical disability, dwarf along with the parents of intellectual disability.
The validation workshop started by welcoming the chief guest, Mr. Surya Prasad Aryal and the participants by Mr. Kaladhar Bhandari, President of BYAN. He further, gave a brief explanation about the objectives of the workshop along with the the current situation of electoral procedures and difficulties faced by the people with disabilities to achieve their political rights. He was followed by Mrs. Nilu Maharjan, Field Officer of Kathmandu who gave a voter’s education where she highlighted the importance of voting and encouraged the participants to register their names in the voter’s list. In addition to the voter’s education, the accessible electoral systems related materials prepared by BYAN were also distributed to the participants. After that Mr. Vishwo Ram Shrestha gave a brief presentation about the various topics covered in the guidelines.
The program had the presence of the leaders of the various organizations of people with disabilities with the inclusion of all the diverse group of disabilities. Hence, we were able to gather their opinions and suggestions that can help us overcome the shortcomings of the document. Several issues and queries were also raised by the participants such as the inaccessible website of Election Commission Nepal. Mr. Surya Prasad Aryal, who attended the program as chief guest as well as the spokesperson representing the Election Commission Nepal, answered the queries that were raised and promised to try his best to solve the problems faced by the people with disabilities. We are very grateful to Mr.Aryal as he has also been continuously supporting BYAN for making the guidelines by providing his expertise in electoral systems. Furthermore, various real life stories and struggles of people with disabilities were discussed which can later be used as case study and also, to spread awareness among other people with disabilities.
The group discussion was very helpful as at the end of the program, we were able to identify the challenges and the points that should be modified according to the disabilities. The guidelines prepared specifically for the people with disabilities, will be distributed to all the bodies responsible for making the electoral procedure accessible for the upcoming elections.