How you can help CripTheVoteUK
We are just a few weeks into the #CripTheVoteUK campaign, and it has been inspiring and encouraging to see how many of you have come together so quickly to support a much-needed conversation about the role of disabled people and disability rights in this election.
Some of you have asked what you can do to support the campaign, so we’ve made up a list of suggestions:
Change your social media pictures
You can download a Facebook header banner ,
Facebook profile picture,
Twitter header banner
and Twitter profile picture
to change your social media accounts and support the campaign’s visibility.
Part of a disability organisation that can help?
Can you share the CripTheVoteUK campaign to your organisation’s supporters on your organisation’s website and social media? Do you have press contacts you’d be able to reach out to with our press release saying your organisation supports the campaign? You can find our press release here and contact us here for more information. Every signal boost we receive will help push disability up the political agenda before the election.
Keep the conversation going!
Post and retweet the #CripTheVoteUK hashtag on Twitter. Share news articles, share your experiences, share the reasons you want people to think about disability rights when they cast their ballot this 8th June.
Take a selfie!
We’re launching a selfie campaign, asking people to commit to “10 minutes to save 10,000 lives”.
This commitment refers to the 10,000 people whom disability rights actvists and researchers estimate have lost their lives in relation to having their benefits revoked by the DWP, and encourages people to use their vote this spring to save the thousands more disabled people whose lives are at risk under this government.
We think that spending 10 minutes isn’t very much to ask in exchange for 10,000 lives.
We’ll be running the selfie campaign on Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr. Share a selfie with your poll card or one of our campaign signs, a statement that you will be using your vote to support disabled people’s rights, and the hashtags #CripTheVoteUK and #10for10000 (and any others you want to include — more hashtags means more visibility).
Chat with us!
CripTheVoteUK is hosting weekly chats via our Twitter account on Sundays at 19:00 BST. Each week’s chat has a theme related to disability rights and current political issues. Join us to share your experiences and opinions!
Each week’s questions are posted several days in advance to this blog.
Share your story!
CripTheVoteUK is sharing people’s stories of being disabled under the current government. How have cuts to the NHS, social care and benefits affected you? Have you experienced hate crimes due to “workshy” or anti-immigrant rhetoric? What are your concerns around Brexit?
Share your stories with us here! (Submission can be anonymous.)
Get others involved!
Spread the word to your disabled and non-disabled friends alike. We need all the help we can get to impact this election. (If you’re a student, university societies/community groups could be a great place to reach out.) Begin discussions about the topics being raised by CripTheVoteUK.
Follow us!
If you haven’t already, follow our other social media accounts. Each one is a bit different, and all of them have good stuff!
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/CripTheVoteUK
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CripTheVoteUK
Tumblr: https://cripthevoteuk.tumblr.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cripthevoteuk/
Blog: https://medium.com/@CripTheVoteUK
Donate!
In the last two weeks of the #GE2017 campaign, we would like to run a series of Facebook ads targeted to marginal seats, to offset the Tories’ ‘dark ads’ strategy. If you are able to spare a few pounds to help us cover the costs of these, you can do so here: https://www.paypal.me/cripthevoteuk.
Make a video!
If you aren’t able to donate to our ad campaign, you can still contribute by sending us a video of yourself, explaining why you want people to get out and vote on June 8th — and why they should think about disabled people when they do so. Your video can be as short as you like — we’ll be compiling them, and taking care of the editing and captioning. You can send your videos to cripthevoteuk@gmail.com.
If you need some inspiration of what to talk about, you can watch our co-founder Eleanor’s video:
And most importantly…
USE YOUR VOTE!
The #AccessTheVote campaign on Twitter provides valuable information to people who have accessibility concerns in relation to voting. Follow them at https://twitter.com/AccessTheVote.
