In July 2021, Centenary Action submitted written evidence to the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Disability inquiry into access to elected office in the UK.
Read the full submission here
In partnership with Elect Her, Centenary Action runs a bi-monthly roundtable for D/deaf and Disabled women who are active in politics, and Disability organisations to share experience and learnings, and take forward campaigns to remove the barriers. Members of the network contributed to the submission, sharing their lived experiences of being D/deaf and Disabled women in politics and the changes that are needed.
There are a multitude of barriers to elected office for Disabled people, including financial, attitudes, and the lack of accessibility. The social model of disability, which recognises that “people are disabled by barriers in society, not by their impairment or difference”, needs to inform strategies to remove barriers to elected office . Moreover, strategies must target efforts across the whole journey into elected office, including once elected, and take an intersectional approach to improving representation.