The local elections

The Children's society has an article in easy to read symbol form reporting the recent local election results.
For other resources  to support local government and politics see my blog entries on Politics

Preparing for the vote

Values into Action Scotland has a simple to use guide explaining why it is important to vote.
Skillsworkshop blog has some links and comments on the new Easy Read referendum resources.

So what does it mean to be autistic?

Planetmouret explains in this fun film that Autistic people can take things literally .










For all of those who have not quite had their fill of election sites planetmoreau has a blog with lots of election information.

How to vote guide from Makaton

From Makaton: How to Vote

View my other blog entries on Politics and Voting

Election resources from Skillsworkshop

Skillsworkshop has recently added 2 election 2010 resources:

Election 2010- What the main parties say they will do for you

is an Entry 3 Functional skills literacy resource.

There is also a lesson plan for a Pre entry to Level 1 on Know your MP.

For links to other election resources see my Politics blog entries.

Easy Read Manifestos

This months Mencap newsletter has a link to an article

Get my vote success as election draws nearer

The Easy Read versions of the Conservative,Labour and Liberal Democrat manifestos can be downloaded from the article and you can Listen to people with a learning disability talk about why voting is important.
See more on voting from my blog

Learning about the election

Symbol World has a symbol supported election resource suitable for students with a learning disability. It was prepared for the 2005 election but apart from the results page it is still relevant. It has short sections on Political Parties,Voting,The Election and Parliament.
For further resources see my other blog entries on Politics

How shall I vote?

The first thing of course is to register to vote by Tuesday 20th April. This is also the date to arrange a postal vote(if you have already registered), Tuesday 27th is the cut off date for Proxy votes.
Visit About my Vote for further details.

To find out about the prospective parliamentary candidates the following websites give useful background information:

Your next MP

VoteGeek

For understanding of the issues and how to vote Promote the Vote is a site designed for adults with a learning disability.




Maggie Harnew on her Skillsworkshop blog has also highlighted

A polling station walk through

Also see my other blog entries on politics and voting

Helping adults with a disability to vote

What do you do if you get to the polling station and you can't read the voting slip or write a cross ? This question came up and I wasn't sure of the answer so I wrote to Leonard Cheshire Disability who are running a My Vote My Say campaign and this was the reply I got :

'If you would like to vote in person but cannot read the ballot paper or make the cross on the ballot paper yourself you are entitled to be accompanied by a support worker to the polling station and your support worker, under your instruction, can read out the ballot paper to you and place the cross where you instruct them to do so. If you do not have a support worker you can also ask the polling station staff to do this for you.All polling station staff will have been instructed on how they can support people with an impairment at the polling stations on election day but if you want additional assurance, the electoral commission is producing a template letter that voters can take to the polling station that reminds polling station staff of the electoral commission guidance and the fact that you are entitled to have a support worker assist you or be assisted by polling station staff. This resource is not available' but will be in the near future.

The ability to remain fully impartial is obviously important and there is guidance from the Charities Commission Charities and Elections

Write to your MP to sign Early Day Motion 383

Image: Inspired Services

Early Day Motion 383 is part of a Mencap campaign Get My Vote
Mencap is calling on the political parties to produce election materials in easy read and accessible formats. To show your support you can use the form on the Mencap website:contact your MP.
You also read more about the Mencap campaign Get My Vote



Sense, the charity for DeafBlind people has also begun their campaign to ensure that more
of the UK disabled population get to vote in the general election next year. They are starting with training for Parliamentary Candidates on

• How to ensure disabled people can vote
• How to make their campaign accessible
• How to use appropriate language

Politics Bingo

Clip Art: Inspired Services

We played Politics Bingo today and I found that I had forgotten to put the local councillor on the Bingo caller's card- Now updated !

Politics Bingo

From my recent blog entries you may have noticed that I am teaching about Voting and Politics.
To help us become familiar with key words I have made a bingo game (6 cards in the set) using
the free Clip art set from Inspired Services.


Politics Bingo PDF

Calling Card PDF


Politics Bingo Word

Calling Card (Word)

More Politics

There is an excellent resource for the interactive whiteboard from
Parliament UK education service.
I recommend Level 1 . With a little background information this resource would be accessible to Entry level students with a learning disability .
There is an accompanying PDF which gives an outline of the scope of resource.

I have also added more resource links to my blog entry Politics and voting

Promote the Vote

Promote the vote is a website aimed at adults with a learning disability. It has sections on
why you should vote, how to register to vote,how to vote and issues to consider when voting.


It would be a good resource to use with Count Me from Mencap.
See my blog entry Politics and voting

Politics and Voting

Count Me is a Resource from Mencap designed for adults with a learning disability. It can be used to teach how the political and voting system work and are a good resource for teaching adults with a learning disability. The first 5 weeks are about politics and voting . The final weeks (6-8) are dedicated to training the course participants to be trainers . The resource consists of

• A manual to support trainers Includes the resources needed for the course

• session plans and handouts for weeks 1 to 4

• session plans and handouts for weeks 5 to 8

• posters for the Count me in! course

Other useful resources include
From The Electoral Commission website :

Eye Spy Poster :(used in week 2) Your Town Your Street Your Say


An interactive version of the Eye spy poster from Promote the Vote







Back grounds notes for using with eye spy poster

An set of picture prompts taken from the eye spy poster
(to help when differentiation is required)
and a picture prompt when talking about laws around cars
(to help when differentiation is required)

Democracy Cookbook - A higher level resource - I used page 5 Politics What's it all about as good background information for week 2
For week 3
United Kingdom Parliament

has Images of Parliament at work






Links to its Flickr Photostream




Find Your MP

For Week 4 Download The Easy Read Guide to Voting from Do Politics (Electorial Commission)

Inspired services government clip art (to purchase)

• E democracy icon set- A set of free clip art related to government and e-democracy (register to access the resource)

Image Inspired Services

My blog entry e-democracy-and-citizenship-symbols


and Citizenship blog entry