A person who’s registered blind has gained a authorized problem towards a council after it despatched him postal voting paperwork which he couldn’t learn.
Dr Yusuf Ali Osman, 45, from Croydon, launched a problem towards Croydon council after he was unable to vote by submit with out help in two 2024 elections.
He mentioned: “From my first vote within the Common Election of 2001 proper up till the Common Election of 2024 I’ve by no means been in a position to vote independently and in secret.”
Within the lead-up to the London Common Authority Election in Might, and the Common Election in July, Dr Osman was despatched arduous copies of postal voting paperwork which contained no directions or data in braille.
This was regardless of the council being conscious of his visible impairment.
Dr Osman owns software program in a position to scan and skim out plain textual content, however data contained in tables or photos are sometimes interpreted inaccurately.
The software program doesn’t enable him to establish the place on the poll to solid his vote, or help with marking it.
In an effort to vote by submit, Dr Osman’s good friend needed to learn out the contents of the voting paperwork and fill in his, earlier than ticking the field of Dr Osman’s chosen candidate.
Dr Osman, who has a doctorate, mentioned he tries to stay as independently as doable, and located having to depend on another person to train his basic proper to vote “disempowering”.
Appearing on behalf of Dr Osman, regulation agency Leigh Day despatched a letter earlier than declare to the council in August 2024.
Dr Osman raised considerations in regards to the council’s failure to behave on the wants of disabled voters.
He urged the council to offer visually impaired voters with paperwork in accessible codecs, similar to braille or in digital codecs that may be precisely learn by the related software program.
And final month the council agreed to pay Dr Osman £750 in compensation, and confirmed that it will make affordable changes for visually impaired individuals forward of future elections.
Leigh Day solicitor Carolin Ott, who represents Dr Osman along with Aurelia Buelens, mentioned: “The best to vote is a basic constitutional proper and disabled voters have to be correctly supported of their train of that proper.”
The council additionally invited Dr Osman to be concerned in consultations, together with with the Royal Nationwide Institute of Blind Individuals (RNIB), to plan affordable changes for visually impaired voters, and has invited him to debate the challenges he confronted.
Dr Osman mentioned: “I hope that with the settlement with Croydon council I’d lastly be capable to do that.
“I’d wish to thank my authorized crew for all their arduous work and efforts and the willingness of Croydon council to discover a manner by means of this example that may meet my wants and the wants of different blind and visually impaired individuals going ahead.
“I look ahead to working with officers on the council.”
This comes after Dr Osman obtained £7,000 from the Division for Work and Pensions (DWP), in a settlement in August 2023, after the federal government division did not ship him profit letters in braille or as accessible PDFs.
Croydon council has been approached for remark.
Pictured prime: Dr Yusuf Ali Osman who has gained a authorized problem towards Croydon council (Image: Leigh Day)
