Differently-abled got little help in ’10 polls–SWS

MANILA, Philippines—Less than half (43 percent) of persons with disabilities (PWDs) who voted in the May 2010 elections received assistance during voting, according to a recent survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS).

The survey, conducted from Dec. 3 to 7 last year, found that of the respondents who voted (54 percent), less than half across all types of disability received assistance: 45 percent among the “visually impaired,” 44 percent among the “orthopedically impaired,” and 42 percent among the “hearing/speech impaired.”

The survey was conducted in support of the Disability-Inclusive Elections initiative aimed at increasing the participation of PWDs in elections,” SWS said in a statement released on Saturday.

On the kind of assistance they received, 38 percent said they had help in looking for their names in the voters list, 34 percent in shading the ballots, 31 percent in getting ahead of queues, and 12 percent in dropping the ballots in ballot boxes.

Among those who received help in shading the ballot, 77 percent were assisted by family members, 11 percent were assisted by members of the Board of Election Inspectors or teachers, and 9 percent by poll watchers.

Respondents who were assisted in shading the ballot were then asked: “How much or how little confidence do you have that the candidates shaded in the ballot/pressed in the machine by the person who assisted you are the candidates you prefer?” Eighty-three percent said they had “very much confidence” and 14 percent had “much confidence” that the candidates shaded in the ballot or pressed in the machine by the person who assisted them were the candidates they prefer. Thirty percent were undecided.

The survey used face-to-face interviews of 1,200 persons with disabilities and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points for national percentages. Inquirer Research