In a bid to ensure equal access to the democratic process, Luxembourg introduces tactile stencils ("Walschabloun" in Luxembourgish) for blind and partially-sighted citizens, enabling them to vote autonomously and eliminating the need for third-party assistance.
Participating in political and public life can pose significant challenges for disabled individuals. As the legislative elections draw near, concerns emerge regarding how visually impaired individuals can independently fill in their ballot papers.
A breakthrough solution arrives in the form of tactile stencils, offering self-sufficiency to blind voters and those with compromised vision or neuro-visual disorders. With elections scheduled for 8 October, preparations are in full swing at the Centre for the Development of Sight-related Skills.
The man behind this project, Tom Erdel, shared his motivation: "Thirteen years ago, I lost my sight, and as the local elections approached, I was alarmed by the realisation that I had no means of voting independently."
The Ministry of State supported the project from the outset and ordered 300 stencils for distribution across multiple polling stations ahead of the October elections. Visually impaired voters opting for postal ballots can pre-request stencils from the Centre for the Development of Sight-related Skills.
The primary challenge lay in translating the ballot paper into Braille. While Braille is standardised, it takes up a significant amount of space, rendering it impractical for use on the stencils. Consequently, a decision was made to assign a unique number to each political party and candidate, printing only these numbers in Braille on the stencil. A separate booklet provides the legend, correlating names to the corresponding numbers.
Despite the extensive efforts required, this initiative marks a significant stride towards enabling independent electoral participation for visually impaired individuals.
Full report by RTL Télé (in Luxembourgish)
