Better Late Than Never: Disabled People Can Vote Finally

Following decades of efforts from activists and NGOs, 85,000+ disabled German adults now have the right to cast their vote in elections.

“People with disabilities are not a homogenous group,” says Jürgen Dusel, who advises the German government on disability policy, “and to bar some from voting is not only unfair, its unconstitutional. Without inclusion, there is no democracy.”

In 2019, the country’s highest court ruled that all disabled adults have a right to vote, and they exercised their right for the first time during the 2021 general election.