Skip to main content
The ANED logo

The Academic Network of European Disability Experts (ANED)

Political participation - Indicators of political participation by disabled people

Picture

ANED Annual meeting 12 November 2013, Brussels

Martha Stickings (European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights [FRA]) and Professor Mark Priestley (ANED) gave a joint presentation on the work that FRA and ANED are undertaking to develop and populate indicators on the right to political participation of persons with disabilities.

This project builds upon previous FRA research on the right to political participation of people with intellectual disabilities or mental health problems, as well as previous work on indicator development conducted by ANED.  Work on indicators is framed by five key instruments which are crucial in the context of the EU: the EU treaties, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, the Europe 2020 strategy, the European Disability Strategy 2010-2020 and, of course, the CRPD.

The aim of the ANED/FRA project is to refine and populate structure, process and outcome indicators in the area of political participation by persons with disabilities (with a focus on EP and municipal elections), as well as collecting information on promising practices in this area.

The project employs a threefold conceptual framework:

Structural indicators reflect the ratification and adoption of legal instruments and the existence of basic institutional mechanisms deemed necessary for the promotion and protection of fundamental rights e.g. the ratification of the CPRD.

Process indicators measure efforts to transform their human rights commitments into the desired results. This involves indicators that continuously assess the measures taken to implement commitments  e.g. indicators based on budget allocations.

Outcome indicators capture attainments reflecting the enjoyment of human rights e.g. the number of persons with disabilities elected to parliament.

The ANED/FRA project started out by developing a set of around 45 indicatorscapturing the key aspects of the right to political participation. This was followed by desk research in the 28 EU Member States, Candidate and Associate Countries and a secondary analysis of comparative data from EU-wide surveys. The reports will be available ahead of the European Parliament elections in May 2014.

Powerpoint presentation Prof. Mark Priestley and Martha Stickings (PDF 665 kB)