RNIB and the General Election in Northern Ireland

The General Election is an important opportunity to build relationships with your future MP. 

 

 

By making contact and letting candidates know about the issues affecting blind and partially sighted people before the election on 12th December we can make sure we start the new Parliamentary session with sight loss on the top of new MPs’ agendas, as well as important allies for RNIB in Parliament. But to do this, we need your help.

What are we calling for?

We are asking MP candidates to sign up as RNIB Champions, promising to help us push for a world without barriers for people with sight loss through their work in Parliament if they are elected.

Use our simple online tool to ask your local MP candidates to sign up.

Write to your MP Candidates

Our Manifesto in Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland, RNIB is asking the next Government to: 

  • Make democracy accessible by devising and implementing a way to ensure blind and partially sighted people can vote independently and in private.
  • Ensure blind and partially sighted people can travel independently by acting on the recommendations on accessible street design in ‘Building for Equality: Disability and the Built Environment’ and supporting accessible transport.
  • Ensure jobcentre staff in Northern Ireland are able to provide appropriate support to help blind and partially sighted people gain, sustain and retain employment.
  • Make sure employment and benefit support works for blind and partially sighted people and is fully accessible for claimants.
  • Stop avoidable sight loss by reducing over capacity in eye care services in Northern Ireland.

Read the full RNIB Northern Ireland Manifesto

If you would like an alternative format of the Manifesto, please email Robert Shilliday at [email protected] or phone on 028 9033 4118

How you can help

You can help us in lots of ways, depending on how much time you have available and how confident you feel. 

If you have 5 minutes: The easiest way to help is by using our online tool to send a pre-written letter to ask your local MP candidates to sign up to become an RNIB Champion if they are elected. It’s very quick and you can edit the letter to make sure it reflects your concerns. By signing up as an RNIB Champion candidates will be letting us know they want to hear from us once elected. This means we’ll send them briefings ahead of debates, statistics about sight loss in their constituency, and share opportunities for them to help make things better for blind and partially sighted people. 

Use our tool to write to your MP Candidates

If you have ten minutes: It’s likely that representatives from your local politicial parties will knock on your door to speak to you about who you’re voting for. You can use our manifesto to speak to them about their candidate signing up as an RNIB Champion. Read the full RNIB Northern Ireland Manifesto.

If you have longer: If you’re feeling proactive, think about attending any local hustings in your area (email [email protected] if you want us to help you find out what’s happening near you) or getting in touch to set up a meeting with your local candidates. And our General Election Campaign Guide has further ideas about how you can get involved.

We’d love to hear from you!

If you do hear from your candidates please let us know what they say and how it goes. By sharing this information we can learn from your experiences and share them with other campaigners. Let us know about any local discussions you’ve had by emailing [email protected]

 

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