{"id":1144,"date":"2017-05-03T08:13:53","date_gmt":"2017-05-03T08:13:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/?p=1144"},"modified":"2017-05-03T08:14:20","modified_gmt":"2017-05-03T08:14:20","slug":"mental-incapacity-is-not-a-legal-incapacity-to-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/mental-incapacity-is-not-a-legal-incapacity-to-vote\/","title":{"rendered":"Mental incapacity is not a legal incapacity to vote"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>This first appeared on <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/thesmallplaces.wordpress.com\/\"><strong>The Small Places<\/strong><\/a><strong> blog<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s that time again\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u2026Yep, there\u2019s a general election coming atcha! \u00a0Don\u2019t know who to vote for? Don\u2019t understand the options?\u00a0Struggling to fathom the reasonably foreseeable consequences of your vote in this politically volatile time? Worried you can\u2019t retain all the information about which party wants which shade of Brexit and what other policies they stand for? \u00a0Feel you can\u2019t weigh up the options\u00a0(because frankly they\u2019re all pretty awful)?\u00a0Well fear not, because (all together now)\u00a0mental incapacity is not a legal incapacity to vote (thanks to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.legislation.gov.uk\/ukpga\/2006\/22\/part\/8\/crossheading\/legal-incapacity-to-vote\">s73 of the Electoral Administration Act 2006<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>Yep, time for our regular reminder here at the\u00a0<em>Small Places\u00a0<\/em>that when it comes to voting (on paper or at the ballot) you don\u2019t need to demonstrate to anybody that you have mental capacity. \u00a0Anybody who tries to stop you voting on the grounds that you lack mental capacity is unlawfully interfering with your democratic right to vote. \u00a0If you are a care provider, or doctor, or social worker or whatever,\u00a0and you\u2019re used to using the Mental Capacity Act 2005 to make decisions for other people, and you\u2019re about to start assessing people\u2019s mental capacity to vote,\u00a0stop right there because it\u00a0doesn\u2019t apply to voting.\u00a0 This isn\u2019t about the \u2018presumption of capacity\u2019, this is about <em>mental capacity having nothing to do with voting<\/em>. \u00a0If a person is expressing a desire to vote, then let them vote, or better still, support them to. \u00a0If you care for people who might have difficulties voting, you don\u2019t need to assess their mental capacity to vote, just ask them if they want to and (ideally) give them the help they need and want.\u00a0 It\u2019s very simple.<\/p>\n<p>A few years ago I was banging on about this on Twitter and somebody asked me \u2018but what happens if they eat the ballot paper?\u2019 \u00a0Someone else pointed out that you <em>do\u00a0<\/em>need mental capacity to vote, because: coma.\u00a0Well, apart from the former being a pretty offensive question that plays into stereotypes about\u00a0disabled people, neither of these questions have anything to do with the integrity of our democratic systems when you think about them. \u00a0An eaten ballot slip isn\u2019t a vote (although it is a health risk, that you should probably act upon) and\u00a0people in comas rarely walk into polling stations and attempt to exercise the right to vote. \u00a0You don\u2019t need a law saying \u00a0you need mental capacity to vote to \u2018protect\u2019 the vote against these risks, because\u00a0<em>they aren\u2019t risks. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The big risk you\u00a0<em>should\u00a0<\/em>be concerning yourself about is the huge number of\u00a0disabled people who are\u00a0<em>prevented from voting\u00a0<\/em>because of the misconception that people need to have mental capacity to be allowed to vote. \u00a0Research from Mencap found this applied to 17% of people with learning disabilities in their survey, and a Scope report found that it even extended to people with physical disabilities\u00a0whom others perceived as \u2018incapable\u2019. \u00a0This is precisely why Lord Rix proposed the amendment to the Electoral Administration Act removing mental capacity barriers to voting, because the bigger picture is that the bigger threat to our electoral system is the systematic disenfranchisement of people with mental disabilities (and other disabilities) from voting.<\/p>\n<p>As for the supposed risk of people voting without truly understanding the consequences of their vote\u2026 I fear we may all be in that category this year.<\/p>\n<p>Ps. There\u00a0<em>is\u00a0<\/em>a problem with registration to vote, due to a bit of a cockup by the Cabinet Office when developing the new individual voter registration system. \u00a0Basically\u00a0anyone registering to vote now has to make a \u2018declaration of truth\u2019 about the information they\u2019ve supplied in order to be able to register to vote (ie. their name, address, national insurance number etc). \u00a0People are allowed to be assisted to supply this information to register to vote, but according to the Electoral Commission they must still have the mental capacity to be able to make the declaration of truth (or have a deputy or Lasting Power of Attorney who can register them on their behalf). \u00a0Nobody thought about this at the time, it seems to be an unintentional consequence of the Coalition government not thinking about this group of people when they consulted on the proposals. \u00a0This is a bit of a cock-up and in my view it\u2019s a clear violation of those individual\u2019s human rights and some of us are trying to get this fixed (though not in time for this election). \u00a0However, it\u2019s important to remember that the mental capacity to make a declaration of truth (i.e. to know that it is your name, address that you\u2019re submitting etc) is\u00a0<em>not\u00a0<\/em>the same as the mental capacity to vote. \u00a0If you do get caught in this loophole, or know anybody who is, and especially if they\u00a0<em>want\u00a0<\/em>to vote or it\u2019s led to other problems (like being chased for the offence of failure to register to vote, or not being able to get\u00a0financial services as you\u2019re not on the electoral register) then I\u2019d be interested to hear from you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This first appeared on The Small Places blog It\u2019s that time again\u2026 \u2026Yep, there\u2019s a general election coming atcha! \u00a0Don\u2019t know who to vote for? Don\u2019t understand the options?\u00a0Struggling to [&hellip;]","protected":false},"author":1313,"featured_media":1145,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mental-health-and-society"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7swiU-is","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":552,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/mental-health-learning-disability-and-social-care-protecting-human-rights-in-the-austerity-crisis\/","url_meta":{"origin":1144,"position":0},"title":"Mental health, learning disability and social care: protecting human rights in the austerity crisis","author":"Julie Doughty","date":"9 July 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This conference held in Cardiff on 24 June, was organised by the Centre for Health and Social Care Law and Hafal, Wales\u2019 leading charity for people with serious mental illness and their carers. The aim was to bring together service users, carers, policy-makers, health and social care practitioners, lawyers and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Adult mental health&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Adult mental health","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/category\/adult-mental-health\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Abstract watercolour mental health image","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2016\/07\/HiRes.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2016\/07\/HiRes.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2016\/07\/HiRes.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2016\/07\/HiRes.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2016\/07\/HiRes.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2016\/07\/HiRes.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1754,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/skellern-lecture-and-lifetime-achievement-award\/","url_meta":{"origin":1144,"position":1},"title":"Skellern Lecture and Lifetime Achievement Award","author":"Ben Hannigan","date":"16 August 2023","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Eileen Skellern made a major contribution to the development of modern, interpersonally mediated, mental health nursing and following her death in 1980 a lecture series was founded in her name. Since 2006 the Skellern Lecture has been delivered on an annual basis, alongside a Lifetime Achievement Award. This combined event\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Adult mental health&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Adult mental health","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/category\/adult-mental-health\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2023\/07\/Photo-3-Dr-Anne-Aiyegbusi-and-Prof-Daniel-Kellyskellern-award-2023-scaled-e1692175602417.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2023\/07\/Photo-3-Dr-Anne-Aiyegbusi-and-Prof-Daniel-Kellyskellern-award-2023-scaled-e1692175602417.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2023\/07\/Photo-3-Dr-Anne-Aiyegbusi-and-Prof-Daniel-Kellyskellern-award-2023-scaled-e1692175602417.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2023\/07\/Photo-3-Dr-Anne-Aiyegbusi-and-Prof-Daniel-Kellyskellern-award-2023-scaled-e1692175602417.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2023\/07\/Photo-3-Dr-Anne-Aiyegbusi-and-Prof-Daniel-Kellyskellern-award-2023-scaled-e1692175602417.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2023\/07\/Photo-3-Dr-Anne-Aiyegbusi-and-Prof-Daniel-Kellyskellern-award-2023-scaled-e1692175602417.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":775,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/does-taking-antidepressants-during-pregnancy-harm-the-child-here-are-the-facts\/","url_meta":{"origin":1144,"position":2},"title":"Does taking antidepressants during pregnancy harm the child? Here are the\u00a0facts","author":"Professor Ian Jones","date":"24 October 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"When it comes to taking antidepressants in pregnancy, women and their doctors have a difficult decision to make. Depression in pregnancy and following childbirth (the postpartum period) is common and has potentially serious consequences. Suicide is a leading cause of maternal death in the UK. However, a number of studies\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Adult mental health&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Adult mental health","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/category\/adult-mental-health\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2016\/10\/Antidepressants-during-pregnancy.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2016\/10\/Antidepressants-during-pregnancy.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2016\/10\/Antidepressants-during-pregnancy.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2016\/10\/Antidepressants-during-pregnancy.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2016\/10\/Antidepressants-during-pregnancy.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2016\/10\/Antidepressants-during-pregnancy.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1496,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/letsshare\/","url_meta":{"origin":1144,"position":3},"title":"#LetsShare","author":"Jo Pinder","date":"28 February 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Jo, Wellbeing Practitioner and Time to Change Champion, talks about Cardiff University\u2019s new Mental Health Campaign: What\u2019s on your mind?#LetsShare, encouraging us all to share more when it comes to mental health... Mental health problems are common; one in four of us will be affected at some point in our\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Adult mental health&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Adult mental health","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/category\/adult-mental-health\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2018\/02\/LetsShare2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2018\/02\/LetsShare2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2018\/02\/LetsShare2.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2018\/02\/LetsShare2.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2018\/02\/LetsShare2.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2018\/02\/LetsShare2.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":743,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/raising-mental-health-awareness-in-the-community\/","url_meta":{"origin":1144,"position":4},"title":"Raising mental health awareness in the community","author":"Gemma Stacey-Emile","date":"6 October 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This month will see the second Mental Health and Well-being event held at the Pavilion, Grange Gardens in Grangetown, Cardiff.\u00a0 This work is part of the Community Gateway flagship engagement project within Cardiff University and specifically aims to raise awareness of mental health and well-being issues within this diverse inner\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Adult mental health&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Adult mental health","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/category\/adult-mental-health\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2016\/10\/Community-Mental-Health.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2016\/10\/Community-Mental-Health.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2016\/10\/Community-Mental-Health.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2016\/10\/Community-Mental-Health.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2016\/10\/Community-Mental-Health.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2016\/10\/Community-Mental-Health.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1861,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/knowledge-exchange-through-elective-mental-health-nursing-placements-abroad\/","url_meta":{"origin":1144,"position":5},"title":"Knowledge exchange through elective mental health nursing placements abroad","author":"Abigail Fisher","date":"31 July 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"A successful knowledge exchange for mental health nursing practice, policy, research and education between our School of Healthcare Sciences and Mid North Coast Local Health District (New South Wales, Australia) provided an opportunity for further knowledge exchange through international student placements. Seren Roberts (Senior Lecturer in Mental Health Nursing) The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Adult mental health&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Adult mental health","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/category\/adult-mental-health\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2024\/07\/MHB-Australia-placement-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2024\/07\/MHB-Australia-placement-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2024\/07\/MHB-Australia-placement-scaled.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2024\/07\/MHB-Australia-placement-scaled.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2024\/07\/MHB-Australia-placement-scaled.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2024\/07\/MHB-Australia-placement-scaled.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"meta_box":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2017\/05\/pen-2181101_1920.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1313"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1144"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1147,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1144\/revisions\/1147"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}