What’s missing from local government election blurbs

by Lauredhel on October 1, 2009

in Politics, disability

I’m looking through my local government voting papers. Issues that are on the radar in the candidate blurbs:

- A healthy lifestyle for our children

- beautification of streetscapes

- Make the city environmentally friendly

- encourage a sense of community

- “be a voice for the disabled members of our community” (I have a voice, thankyou.)

- improve road safety

- reduce crime

- reduce graffiti

- safety of senior citizens

- parking fees

- height policy for buildings on the coast

- thugs

- more parking

- paying less to a CEO

- buy local to encourage local jobs

- strong leadership

- respect

- accountability

- upgrading parks

- hoons

- traffic management systems

- Ocean Reef marina

- economic audit

- anti-social behaviour

- youth facilities

- improved sports reserves

- preservation of local bushland

Things that are not on the radar of a single local government candidate:

- Accessibility.

Is there any reason I should bother?

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Tagged as: accessibility, accessible, disability, disabled, election, elections, local government

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This article was written by lauredhel

Lauredhel is a forty-something woman with a disability. She lives in her Western Australian family home where books, Lego, and soapmaking gear constantly compete for space. She blogs about feminism, reproductive justice, freedom from violence, the use and misuse of language, medical science, being disabled, her vegetable garden, and whatever else pops into her head. Lauredhel also blogs at FWD/Forward (feminists with disabilities), scribbles at her personal dreamwidth journal Selective and Arbitrary, and co-moderates Hollaback Australia. She joined Hoyden About Town in 2007.

lauredhel has written 1286 posts for Hoyden About Town. If you liked this post, you might like to subscribe to the feed via RSS or EMAIL to get instantly updated for more posts like this.

{ 1 trackback }

18th Down Under Feminists’ Carnival! « Wallaby: November 8, 2009 at 6:12 pm

{ 6 comments }

1 Mindy October 1, 2009 at 5:17 pm: Obviously being a voice for you negates the need for you to be able to move around your community. Or something. FAIL.

Beautifications of streetscapes always makes me think – put gardens in and make footpaths narrow and hard for two people to pass on, much less get a wheelchair or scooter down.
2 Lauredhel October 1, 2009 at 5:28 pm: Of course it’s far more important to make streets beautiful than for people to be able to negotiate them. And yet, yet, we still keep putting in ugly, obstructive barriers on footpaths. Keeping bikes out trumps Teh Pretty; allowing PWD to move around in the world doesn’t.
3 DeusExMacintosh October 1, 2009 at 6:12 pm: Picket his office with a big sign: I don’t need your voice I need a ramp.
4 lauredhel October 1, 2009 at 7:55 pm: DEM: Her office, though I don’t think she has one (yet).
5 Anna October 1, 2009 at 10:25 pm: Oh, that reminds me of when I called every candidate in our federal election to ask if their office was wheelchair accessible (we have offices during elections). One of them took three days to answer this question, and another insisted they did, and then when we showed up, they didn’t.
6 DeusExMacintosh October 1, 2009 at 10:38 pm: Sorry, Queenslander. Polliegals were few and far between (with a few notable exceptions like the former member for Oxley) when I was growing up. Like the Conservatives in the UK still, you had to really struggle to get a woman past the local association members and onto the shortlist. Johs Queensland – like Palin’s Alaska but with cane toads rather than moose.