Alberto Ferreras |
Zamora, May 27 (EFE).- Accessible voting will be a reality in all schools in the city of Zamora thanks to two different signaling initiatives, QR codes and pictographic boards, one of them pioneering, which both seek the same objective: overcome the barriers that people with cognitive disabilities can find when it comes to going to the polls.
The signaling initiative launched at the national level by the Ministry of the Interior in collaboration with the Plena Inclusión España associative movement will reach the polls in three of the city’s polling stations through the People Foundation.
For the first time, a specific development of accessible communication designed within the framework of the Zamora Inclusiva project has been implemented in the 57 tables of the other thirteen schools.
Two of the managers of Zamora Inclusiva, the teachers of the Virgen del Castillo de Zamora Special Education College Amalia Crespo and Javier Ríos, have explained to EFE the advantages of the pictographic panels that they have designed and that will be tested for the first time this Sunday in some elections.
“They are interactive, with audio, free, you only need your mobile phone or a tablet to read the QR code and this version of the pictographic panel for voting also has a novelty in the form of questions”, they have detailed.
Accessible voting will be a reality in all schools in the city of Zamora. EFE/Mariam A. Montesinos
The universal pictograms of the Aragonese Center for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (Arasaac) have been incorporated into the communication board of Zamora Inclusiva to collect the main voting actions, such as showing the DNI, using the electoral booth or depositing the envelope in the ballot box.
In addition, the specific design for the 28M includes three of the questions that users of the pictographic system may have when voting: I don’t know how to read, can you help me? How can I vote? and where is my polling station?
In the case of people with Autism Spectrum Disorder, this form of pictographic communication makes it easier for those over 18 years of age to know in advance the process to exercise their right to vote through five simple drawings that explain the steps to take.
For their part, children with ASD who accompany their parents to vote, for whom it is essential to have a forecast of what they are going to do to reduce their stress, this innovative communication system allows them through five pictograms to anticipate what It will happen in a place unknown to them, such as a polling station.
After this first step that is taken this Sunday to facilitate an inclusive vote, the teaching team of the Virgen del Castillo Special Education College has called on the parties to take one more step towards full inclusion.
accessible programs
To this end, it has asked the political formations to make their electoral programs accessible so that people with cerebral palsy, intellectual disabilities or other circumstances that make it difficult for them to communicate through the usual channels can better understand the proposals for the upcoming elections. each party.
Before arriving at the municipal vote, the Zamora Inclusiva project has signposted in recent months with pictograms and QR codes that give access to pictographic communication boards of fifty public establishments in the city.
Textile or food stores, cafeterias, kiosks or libraries facilitate the communication of people with functional diversity through this system that also makes it possible to make themselves understood to people who temporarily suffer from speech problems as a result of a stroke or for other reasons. EFE