Ahead of this year’s General Election, Fianna Fáil has pledged to commit an extra €400 million to disability services per annum.
On the ground, the election proves to be much more of a headache for visually impaired people. Legally blind Amie Hynes-Fitzpatrick got in touch to tell us about the massive, impractical oversight made by all candidates.
Amie says:
“After weeks of speculation an Taoiseach Enda Kenny, finally dissolved the Dail on the 3rd of February. Safe to say our representatives hit the ground running, decorating polls across the country with their latest headshots and knocking on doors to gather votes.
Waking up the morning of the 3rd, a thought crossed my mind. It wasn’t outlandish dreams of inclusive policy or full equality across the country. No, my mind turned to the most basic of questions; did they remember the height requirements for posters? And upon leaving my house to get to work that morning it was clear that they had not.
Sure enough, as the days went on and the posters sprung up, more and more posters appeared at eye level, well perfect head hitting level for the nearly quarter of a million blind and vision impaired people across the country, the majority of whom are of voting age. Posters are supposed to be erected no lower than 2.3 metres from ground level, however this is not adhered to.
It is not one party or one candidate who has placed their posters below the minimum height level, all are guilty of it. All you need to do is take a walk or drive down any street in the country to see it. This is not taking in to consideration the many posters that have been left dangling and hanging loosely amid the recent stormy weather. There are nearly a quarter of a million people affected by sight loss in Ireland and this figure will continue to rise as our population ages and yet when it comes to the election we have been overlooked.
In the run up to the campaign, you hear many people complaining about how much of an eye sore the posters become, how would they feel if they literally walked into the posters at every turn?
There is little point arguing on the side of voting power of myself and my peers in the sight loss community, with most political parties and independent reps failing to pick up the National Vision Coalitions manifesto for Election 2016.
Because let’s be honest, when our representatives are failing to remember us at campaign stage, we’ve little hope of them remembering us when they take their seats after polling day”.
We are committed to continuing the conversation about the representation of women in Ireland. We are hosting an open conversation about the representation of women in politics and media, tomorrow February 18th.
Limited availability remaining. RSVP to [email protected] to attend.
