Webbinarium: Democracy and Disability – how to create broader political participation in the Nordic region?
Studies show that people with disabilities are not as involved as those without disabilities in the political systems in the Nordic countries. Inequality applies both to lack of accessibility to elections and to be an elected politician.
According to objective 16.7 of the United Nations Agenda 2030, all countries of the world must ”ensure a responsive, inclusive, participation-based and representative decision-making at all levels”. The Nordic Council of Ministers finances the project Universal design, participation and democracy to develop the exchange of knowledge and experience on how Agenda 2030 and Objective 16.7 are implemented in the countries.
As part of this work, the Nordic Welfare Centre and the Swedish Agency for Participation invite you to an expert meeting on political participation. We gain an insight into political participation and democracy in general and then delve into Universal design and accessibility – concepts that are important for how inclusive the political systems in the Nordic countries are for people with disabilities. The meeting will then compare conditions in the Nordic countries regarding opportunities and barriers for people with disabilities to participate as elected representatives in political life.
The aim is to gather knowledge and experience from experts in research, civil society and government.
The goal with this meeting is to develop recommendations that can be submitted to Nordic decision-makers.
Topics at the webinar:
- What does political participation and democracy mean in the Nordic countries
- How inclusive are the political systems in the Nordic countries. What is Universal Design and accessibility – participation and democracy?
- How do the Nordic political systems for elected politicians with disabilities work? Discussions with elected politicians with disabilities about their experiences.