In this electoral race, electronic voting machines were expected to receive more than 1.2 million people with disabilities, according to data from the Superior Electoral Court (TSE). After the votes for the representative choice, only 8 candidates with disabilities were elected.
The large difference between the number of voters corresponding to this social minority and the number of elected officials shows the lack of representation in politics. For Marco Pellegrini, consultant on accessibility and inclusion and former national secretary for people with disabilities, it is necessary that this part of the population has more seats in Congress so that their rights are guaranteed.
“People who hold positions, both in the legislature and in the executive, need to be people with disabilities and who know this process, who are able to support their claims”, he said in an interview with CNN.
Despite being urgent, the presence of this part of the population in politics is still a challenge. As Pellegrini explains, “access to the electoral process is largely heredity, by people who are already undergoing renewal. So, the story of having the machine in your hand is very important and those who manage to put themselves in an unprecedented way are people who walk a much more difficult path.”
But the search for this path that requires struggle permeates the professional lives of many people with disabilities. This year’s elections had 492 PWD candidates, with the highest number of them being state deputy, with 292 people, followed by federal deputy, with 173. In addition, in 2022 there was a historic milestone: one person with disability ran for vice-president of the republic. Mara Gabrili ran for the post alongside Simone Tebet.
To check the competition for such an important political office, people with disabilities went through a long period of search for changes: “This construction of policies took place a lot by militancy, by the people who carried out this struggle that resisted. This is an achievement and that achievement continues. It is necessary for people to continue to play a leading role in the National Congress, in state legislatures, even in executive positions so that this knowledge and people continue to advance to find solutions, because the solutions are not completely in place”, said the former national secretary of the person. with disabilities.
Another person who explains the importance of political representation is Ana Rita de Paula, a specialist in public policies and activist for people with disabilities. Like Marco Pellegrini, she is a person with a physical disability and feels the daily challenges for the evolution of these people’s reality.
Ana explains that to make representation count, it is necessary for professionals to master not only the PWD guidelines, but also the system that connects the legal provision of society.
It is no use for these people to know only the specific issues about people with disabilities. It is also important that those who are running for public office have an appropriate stance in relation to structuring policies
Ana Rita de Paula, specialist in public policies and activist for people with disabilities
And this academic training indicated by the specialist is reflected in the numbers of the results of these elections. According to data released by the TSE, all 8 PCD candidates elected have completed higher education. For Ana, this corresponds to a structural issue about this part of the population: low access to quality education limits the election of candidates with disabilities. “What worsens the situation of greater schooling is that most people with disabilities are low-income, because there is a socioeconomic link of disability”, she says.
Source: CNN Brasil
