When electors go to vote in May, amongst the candidates on the ballot papers will be experts with firsthand experience of living with disability and the impact of long term health conditions. Standing for office for several of these candidates is being made easier by grants from a fund specifically set to give them the additional practical support they need.

This close to the Holyrood polling day, that fund is only open to people already selected to stand but, as Ellen Blunsdon from Inclusion Scotland has been telling healthandcare.scot, the hope is that more people will use the fund to take their voices of experience into future local and national elections.

The Access to Elected Office Fund (Scotland) is a fund for disabled candidates to cover the extra impairment-related costs that being disabled people standing for election face.

Paid for by the Scottish government, it covers things like assistive technology, communication, support, coaching, travel reimbursement and personal assistance.

The fund is run by Inclusion Scotland whose Access to Elected Office Coordinator, Ellen Blunsdon says, though the voices of lived experience are essential in parliaments and on councils, the significant extra costs involved in standing for election for many people with disabilities, can put them off standing.

“The financial barriers to any person standing for election are already huge. But we know from work done by Scope that for disabled people, it costs an extra £1,095.

“And if you are disabled, you are already facing cost pressures. You are more likely to be unemployed or underemployed, to have insecure housing, insecure care arrangements – all of which can make standing for election feel really, really impossible.

“But it's so important that disabled people are represented in politics, so that we can have those issues addressed.”

The fund is available to people who have been selected as candidates for the period up until election day.

The amount of funding varies depending on the needs of the candidate and where they are standing. A regional list Holyrood candidate for the Highlands and Islands might incur many thousands of pounds of additional travel costs compared with someone standing for their local council.

"The Access to Elected Office Fund operates under the Equality Act's definition of disability which is an impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on your ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities," says Ellen.

"However, disabled people are already so burdened with this perception that we are trying to play the system, this pervasive narrative of being benefit scroungers, that we deliberately take a light touch in our asks for 'proof' of disability. You do not need proof of diagnosis to be eligible, you do not need a piece of paper that says 'yes, you are disabled enough' - your lived experience will be believed throughout the process.

“If you are struggling with campaigning on top of neurodiversity, physical impairment, poor mental health, poor menstrual health, endometriosis – you are disabled and we are not going to shut you out.

“Ultimately, if you are struggling with campaigning because of your health, you probably deserve some support.”

“This is my experience”

In the 2022 Scottish local council elections, 46 people got support from the fund. Of these, 22 were elected. The fund also supported 14 candidates during the 2021 Scottish parliament election campaign.

“I think we are having quite a big impact,” says Ellen. “I think anything that helps see more diverse representation in parliament of any group, but especially disabled people, is incredibly important.

“However, political parties also need to look to the future. I think there is huge scope for creating more opportunities for disabled candidates at any stage of their journey, and to offer more support for them once they do get selected as well.”

Ellen says the more candidates of different viewpoints and diverse backgrounds, the better the Scottish parliament and councils of the future will be:

“We need the people who are most affected by things like social security cuts, by things like transport policy, to be in the room so that they can say: ‘this is my experience, you may not have heard this before, here is what we need, can you do this?’

“And if we don't have that, then we risk leaving a lot of people behind, of having policies that are not as good as they should be – and of leaving people feeling really disengaged from government and their local areas.

“We need people to be involved in politics. We need people to be politically aware. But, if they don't feel like they can get into the room, that they won't be welcome in the room, then they are not going to try.”

 

For more information contact Inclusion Scotland’s Civic Participation Team at: civicparticipation@inclusionscotland.org

Read more: Users to get voting rights at IJB meetings; Social workers call for disability funding rethink; Disabled working women ‘excluded by design’

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