Disability and Political Parties (DISPOP)

Around 1 in 6 people globally are disabled: a figure set to increase due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic but also to military conflicts and ageing populations. Disabled people are a heterogenous group with a diverse range of impairment types and intersecting identities; and yet, they experience a range of similar economic, political, and social inequalities. Despite reporting high levels of interest in electoral politics, disabled people have lower voter turnout rates and are under-represented in legislatures around the world. To understand why these patterns occur, what barriers exist, and how to redress these inequalities, we need to study the relationship between disability and political parties - the key institution linking citizens and electoral politics. Political parties are important vehicles for mobilising and organising groups of citizens with an interest in politics; yet there are no studies focussed on how disabled people experience and perceive political parties, nor whether, when, and how parties think about disability, accessibility and inclusion. DISPOP fills that gap. Working with disabled people to co-produce our research, DISPOP aims to: (1) identify, analyse, and compare barriers experienced by disabled people, (2) map and evaluate existing party initiatives and best practices, (3) explore to what extent formal rules and informal norms render parties ableist institutions, and (4) co-produce recommendations with disabled people to make politics more accessible. DISPOP is a 4-year project with three inter-connected work packages (WPs) examining the different stages of the political participation journey: citizens to party members (WP1); members to activists (WP2); and, activists to candidates (WP3). DISPOP is a comparative project, comparing across countries and parties to identify whether, and how, different contexts and party characteristics shape disabled people’s experiences and perceptions, as well as the kinds of solutions parties might have developed. This approach will allow us to disseminate best practices and co-create meaningful strategies that enable parties around the world to become more accessible and inclusive. DISPOP will study the four largest parties in the UK, Denmark, Germany and Spain, selected to provide a degree of similarity and diversity within a limited geographical region. Our innovative multi-method approach includes survey data analysis, interviews, ethnographies, and document analysis. Bringing together political science with disability studies, and building on the PL’s (Evans) and Co-PL’s (Reher) novel and impactful research on disability and political representation, DISPOP will make original and significant contributions to our understanding of the ways in which disability shapes party political participation, as well as producing actionable recommendations and guidance to make democratic engagement accessible to a wider group of citizens. We will work with our Project Partner Disability Rights UK, the leading disability civil society organisation in the UK, to co-design and co-produce the research and co-create a suite of recommendations for improving and enhancing the accessibility of political parties. We will seek advice from our Advisory Board comprising Disability Rights UK, disability scholars, and party scholars from each country. Two Research and Innovation Associates (RIA1,2) will help undertake the empirical work, co-author outputs, and focus on impact and public engagement to help promote the findings of our work amongst relevant stakeholders. Providing mentoring and support for the ECRs is a core part of the project. DISPOP is underpinned by a commitment to creating an inclusive, ethical, and collaborative research environment that produces knowledge with real-world benefits.