Accessible debate for deaf and disabled voters

A special election debate will take place to allow the deaf and disabled community to be heard by key political candidates.

The event, hosted by the Cambridgeshire Deaf Association (CDA), will be in Peterborough on Thursday and feature British Sign Language interpreters and captions.

It is the second accessible debate to be hosted by the CDA and aims to help attendees ask candidates questions about the issues faced by people with disabilities or hearing impediments.

Andy Palmer, chief executive of the CDA, said it was difficult to decide who to vote for, when the issues "are not actually in a language that people can access."

He told the BBC: "People want to go into a voting booth knowing who they want to vote for.. I think it's hard to build up that idea unless you've had some of your questions answered.

"Unfortunately, it's difficult for people to work out what they want to vote for when the issues they're interested in aren't spoken about.

"It's even worse if they are being spoken about but they're not actually in a language that people can access.

"It's really important, especially during an election, that people have as much information as possible before they make their decisions."

Organisers hope to live-stream the event and expect the topics discussed to include hate crime, benefits, employment, the proposed changes to Personal Independence Payment (PIP), education health and care.

The Conservative, Labour, and Liberal Democrat candidates will take part.

It will be held on Thursday 27 June at 18:30 BST at the Allia Future Business Centre, Peterborough.

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