Better plans need to be put in place to aid the differently-abled and the elderly in casting their votes at national elections, according to Dawn Stewart, Chief Executive Officer of the Guyanese Women’s Roundtable (GWR).
As Guyanese went to the polls yesterday, the GWR, on the heels of recent fundraisers, managed to hire several buses to transport elderly and differently-abled voters to their polling stations.
In spite of the success of the initiative, Stewart lamented the difficulty some of the differently-abled faced in getting to the polling stations that were on second floors. She said that there weren’t any ramps on the stairs or any other plan in place to assist the elderly and disabled with casting their votes in such circumstances. She noted that at some of the polling stations she had visited yesterday, public-spirted citizens had to lift some disabled persons up the stairs.
“They should have had better plans in place for the disabled and elderly. I will admit, they did give them first preference when they arrived but some of them had difficulty getting to some of the stations. Maybe they could’ve had all the disabled person’s vote at one area that would have been easily accessible to them all, maybe a one flat building,” Stewart told Stabroek News.
At the Diamond Secondary yesterday, few provisions were made for the elderly and differently-abled to access the polling stations. One elderly women in a wheelchair took almost one hour to vote because her polling station was at the top of two flights of stairs. The logistics involved in getting her up and then down the stairs were described by her companion as traumatising.
Another elderly wheel chair user had to be carried by his companions and one of them told Stabroek News that she was seriously disappointed with the Guyana Elections Commission’s lack of consideration for the differently-abled. “There is so much yard space here and so many classrooms on the ground floor that they could’ve done much more to make this process easier for the differently abled,” she said.
The GWR recently held fundraisers in order to hire two buses to transport the elderly and disabled to their respective polling stations in Georgetown and Vreed-en-Hoop. After the week of fundraisers, GWR raised enough money to hire two buses. In addition, generous citizens volunteered their buses to transport more people. As a result, in total, there were five buses deployed for the operation; three working in Georgetown and two working in Vreed-en-Hoop.
Other than fundraisers to assist the elderly and disabled, the GWR also held voter education fairs that focused on encouraging women and young people to vote. “I would like to think that all our efforts to encourage the youths and women to participate with the elections were not in vain,” Stewart stated as she explained that from all the polling stations she visited yesterday, about 80% of the participants were women and young adults.
Stewart was pleased overall with the election process but voiced the need for more the adoption of technological advancements that would make the voting process easier.
Meanwhile, Stewart said the GWR plans on being a prominent figure after elections and it intends to host other fairs that will further assist the women and young adults in understanding their civic duties and tackling post-elections issues.
