This is a very nice topic. There are two aspects to making positive change through politics:
First is by through political pressure or mobilizing public opinion. This is where the number game comes in. While visually impaired people are not enough to constitute a vote base, you could have a decent number if you include all disabilities, along with the family of the voters with disabilities. Second way is to directly be part of the process. Which can be done as bureaucrats elected representatives and as advisors to government committees or even panels within political parties. I would like to expand on the first route a little bit. In the current system of First Past The post, having a group spread out makes it less powerful than if it was concentrated. This point has been made before in the discussion. Now, in the coming years there is a good chance that we may switch to a Mixed Proportional Representative System, in wich case the consolidated vote percentage would also count. So this will definetly make the voice of persons with disabilities stronger. Even considering the current First Past The Post system, if you go into the electoral realities, candidates in many cases win by a mere 5% or less of votes. We do not need numbers enough to elect a candidate, we just need enough to make the second position win. So the strategy of building a political pressure group is very much a realistic strategy. Now again the challenge comes in getting people registered to vote, which is a separate topic altogether. I personally believe more and more people with disabilities should join the political process. As people with disabilities we have great insight to the concepts of accessibility, standardization, and on the other hand the need for flexibility. Such insight along with the "presumed" sincerity of person with disability, is a great combination to have in a political leader. Again, it does not mean winning or even contesting, it could simply be being involved in committees within political parties and also those formed by government. Would like others opinions on this Sagar +91 99 30 271732 intouchid: 2010-SAGAR007 <http://intch.me/2010-SAGAR007> "The evil of the world is made possible only by the sanction you give it." - John Galt in "Atlas Shrugged" On Tue, Jun 18, 2013 at 8:26 AM, Apoorv Kulkarni <[email protected]>wrote: > Dear all, > > > > This is turning out to be an interesting discussion. > > > > I understand that the visually challenged community is not of a substantial > size to be able to effectively influence an election. However, how about we > broaden the scope and rally the entire disabled community at large. > Further, > if we were able to enlist support of the family and friends of the members > of the disabled community, perhaps we would be able to reach a critical > mass. > > > > Regards, > > Apoorv > > Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of > mobile phones / Tabs on: > > http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in > > > Search for old postings at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > > To unsubscribe send a message to > [email protected] > with the subject unsubscribe. > > To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, > please visit the list home page at > http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in > > > Disclaimer: > 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of > the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; > > 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails > sent through this mailing list.. > Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list..
