Mind This Gap, Too: Political Orientations of People with Disabilities in Europe

Abstract

People with disabilities constitute one of the largest minority groups in Europe, and yet our knowledge about how they relate to the political system remains limited. In addition to facing practical barriers such as inaccessible campaign material and polling stations, they often have fewer resources that facilitate and promote confidence and engagement in politics. Moreover, experiences of discrimination and low numbers of politicians with disabilities can generate feelings of disempowerment. Using European Social Survey data from 30 countries from 2002 to 2015, this study shows that people with disabilities have lower levels of internal and external efficacy, political trust and interest, and electoral participation. The disparities in internal efficacy and political interest disappear when accounting for education, income, employment, and social contact. Meanwhile, significant gaps in external efficacy, political trust, and turnout remain to be explained. Perceptions of discrimination strengthen the internal efficacy and political interest of citizens with disabilities but further decrease their external efficacy, political trust, and turnout. The study sheds light on a frequently overlooked dimension of political inequality, provides insights on several contributing factors, and highlights where further research is needed.

Health and political efficacy in context: What is the role of the welfare state?

“…Future research therefore has the dual task of uncovering which policies and social programs matter for political efficacy as well as which types of health challenges are most harmful to political efficacy. While self-rated health provides a fairly good picture of one's overall health, we know less about how different types of chronic illnesses or physical disabilities may impact democratic attitudes (Reher, 2018). For example, there are differences in terms of overall public awareness of different diseases, how well they have been researched, and what sorts of therapies or accommodations are available to patients.…”

“…Additional confounders are whether a person is married or not (support and discussion network). We further include whether respondents are currently employed: even though unemployment could be an outcome of severe health issues, the literature shows that both efficacy and health are driven by labor market attachment (Marx and Nguyen, 2016; Reher, 2018; Shore and Tosun, 2019). Moreover, we include whether the respondent is a citizen of the country of residence as well as migration background (none, one parent migrant, both parents migrants) as controls in the models.…”

“…Traditional explanations of political participation center on, for example, socioeconomic resources and demographic factors (Brady et al, 1995; Smets and Van Ham Carolien, 2013; Wolfinger and Rosenstone, 1980) or feelings of deprivation and unequal treatment (Runciman, 1972; Taylor et al, 1987). Recent studies added to this list by identifying health as a further important factor influencing political involvement, in particular voting (among others, Denny and Doyle, 2007a; Gollust and Rahn, 2015; Mattila et al, 2013, 2018; Pacheco and Fletcher, 2015; Reher, 2018; Stockemer and Rapp, 2019; Wass et al, 2017).…”

“…Poor physical or mental health may limit one’s resources, such as education or income, and can lower both the motivation and abilities to follow and engage in day-to-day politics. The relationship between health and political involvement has recently received increased attention (Denny and Doyle, 2007a, 2007b; Gollust and Rahn, 2015; Mattila et al, 2013; Pacheco and Fletcher, 2015; Reher, 2018; Söderlund and Rapeli, 2015; Wass et al, 2017). Poor health can, for example, reduce the likelihood of voting in an election by up to 10 percentage points (Mattila et al, 2013; Schur and Kruse, 2000).…”

How Do Voters Perceive Disabled Candidates?

“…disabled people are underrepresented among candidates seeking election to parliament, constituting only around 10% compared to 20% in the general public (Reher, forthcoming 2020b). This underrepresentation might be one reason for the lower levels of political trust and electoral participation of disabled people, which scholars have observed in different countries (e.g., Schur and Adya, 2013;Mattila and Papageorgiou, 2017;Powell and Johnson, 2019;Reher, 2020a).…”