Case Study: British Deaf Association

The British Deaf Association (BDA) is the UK’s leading membership organisation and registered charity led by Deaf people, for Deaf people. Their mission is to ensure a world in which the language, culture, community, diversity, and heritage of Deaf people in the UK is respected and fully protected, ensuring that Deaf people can participate and contribute as equal and valued citizens in the wider society. 

There were 18 attendees at the Deafroots Wellbeing group session from multiple ethnic backgrounds and with additional support needs. Initially we showed them different types of photo ID that could be used for their photo Voter ID by visual demonstration.  

What we quickly discovered was this group didn’t understand what democracy itself meant.  When we showed them pictures or when we demonstrated the different types of ID they understood what they were but didn’t understand the purpose of ID. So, with this group, as they were further behind in terms of understanding any of the democratic process, we had to go back further and start the explanations at a more basic level.   

When we asked people if they were confident to go and vote, the majority of the members put their hands up as they said they now know what Voter ID is and what they need to show… They wanted to ask lots of questions, clarify lots of points and they were very enthused by the information that we provided about democracy and photo Voter ID.  

“I want more information sessions like this so I can ask questions and clarify points because you can’t ask a question to a video.”         

Event attendee, Newham, February 2023 

“I prefer to see demonstrations.  So actually, seeing what type of ID is accepted such as a passport or driving licence really helps me.  Plus, for those that have visual issues this makes it clearer.”   

Event attendee, Newham, February 2023