An estimated 15 percent of the world’s population lives with a disability. Beyond barriers faced in everyday life, persons with disabilities are often subjected to discrimination and excluded from political processes, stifling their voice.

At the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), we work to increase the access of persons with disabilities to the ballot and the political process. Over the past year, IFES has implemented a number of projects to eliminate barriers and enable them to fully participate in civic life:

• In Guatemala, we helped the election commission install wheelchair friendly ramps in all Guatemala City polling stations and neighboring counties. We also helped expand the poll worker’s handbook into a 10-page manual that addresses the rights of citizens with disabilities and ways to make polling centers more inclusive and accessible.    
• In Indonesia, we partnered with local organizations to develop an advocacy toolkit that provides information on the social and political rights of people with disabilities. We are also implementing a regional program to monitor and advocate for the rights of persons with disabilities in Southeast Asia.
• In Egypt, we conducted a workshop for persons with disabilities on advocating for their rights. The session resulted in strategies for enhancing election access for persons with disabilities in the different phases of an election.
• As a member of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Experts on Participation of People with Disabilities in Political and Public Life, IFES helped draft the Committee’s recently adopted recommendation to member states on inclusion.
• We are now an official contributor to the Global Disability Rights Library, a tool that provides information on disability rights to organizations in 60 countries around the world with little or no access to the Internet.

IFES’ work on behalf of persons with disabilities has not gone unnoticed. We won three awards this year: InterAction’s 2011 Disability Inclusion Award, an award from the Indonesia Disabled People’s Association (PPCI) and an award from the National Council for People with Disabilities (CONADI) in Guatemala.

As we mark International Day of Persons with Disabilities on December 3, IFES will continue to strive to give a voice to under-represented populations in all of our programming.