"A Seat at the Table"
by Mosharraf Hossain

During the recent national elections in Bangladesh, the organization I work with, Action on Disability and Development (ADD), deployed 300 observers with disabilities to work in eight constituencies throughout the country. The observers with disabilities showed tremendous enthusiasm in election observations. Their presence was identified as they wore their smart and distinct outfits-cream colored T-shirts, beige caps, brown and blue shoulder bag-all prominently displayed with the words: "Disabled Peoples Observation of National Election, 2001." This effort was funded by IFES, under a grant from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Assistance (SIDA).

In addition to overseeing the deployment of the observers with disabilities, I had the opportunity to join the Election Monitoring Working Group (EMWG), an alliance of 29 NGOs facilitated by The Asia Foundation. Having "a seat at their table" was the key to the inclusion of disability issues in the mainstream election process.

In this biggest alliance of domestic election monitoring NGOs, disability was recognized as an issue, and ADD was treated as an equal member. As the ADD Program Manager, I served on the EMWG Media subgroup, the Election Commission Subgroup, and the General Coordination subgroup. Along with other leaders of the alliance, I was able to take part in critical issues of election observation and was able to raise disability issues to the Election Commission, the media, and to other national and international forums. I also presided over meetings and press conferences of the EMWG alliance, and was invited to deliver the press statement on the EMWG findings on the 2001 election to the media. This final event was highly publicized by national print and television media.

By raising the issue of people with disability to the NGO alliance, the issue of disability became a concern to the alliance as a whole. For example, the standard election observation form used by all of the 149,000 domestic election observers of the NGO alliance included two questions pertaining to the electoral participation of people with disabilities. The same checklist was used by the Fair Election Monitoring Association, which deployed 80,000 domestic observers throughout the country.

Disability issues also received attention in the international arena. The National Democratic Institute (NDI), for example, included disability issues in the training manual it developed for use by party agents. They also invited me to participate and raise disability issues in a pre-election discussion meeting with a delegation from the Carter Center.

The ADD/IFES initiative in Bangladesh also looked beyond election observation. ADD was able to use its new status to promote greater participation of citizens with disabilities in the election. ADD published 50,000 posters to encourage people with disabilities to exercise their rights, and more importantly, the Bangladesh Election Commission distributed the posters to 30,000 polling centers all over the country. ADD also developed two TV spots with the Ministry of Social Welfare to raise awareness on the voting rights of citizens with disabilities. These public service announcements were telecast across four channels, reaching an estimated 39% of Bangladeshis age 15 and above.

Involvement in the project also gave ADD an opportunity to meet with the Election Commission. The Chief Election Commissioner reassured the Commission that special access would be provided to people with disabilities, i.e. placing them at the front of queues and following the Peoples Representative Ordinance of special access. As a result, both voters and observers with disabilities reported that they received tremendous support from the polling officers and law enforcement agencies in casting the vote and observing the election.

The participation of people with disabilities in the election created waves in the attitude of the society to break barriers. The disability community is now planning to raise its demands with the newly formed Parliament to establish their rights as equal citizens. This social and political action of the people hopefully will bring about the inclusion of disability in the mainstream, and people with disabilities will be liberated from injustice and prejudice at last.

Mosharraf Hossain has served as a Program Manager with Action on Disability and Development (ADD) in Bangladesh since 1994.