Via FWD.

jady_lady writes: Disenfranchisement at its Worst

On arrival at the polling station, it appeared that the member of staff who helped me, had no experience of the template and hadn't read the instructions that came with it. He wasn't even aware that the back was sticky, I had to peel off the paper that covered it. He first tried to take me to the end of the table where he had been sitting for me to cast my vote there, in full view of everyone else. I explained that this was not acceptable so he reluctantly took me to a booth. After trying to just lay the template over the form without sticking it, he eventually stuck it down and left. I marked my paper, put it in the box and left.

It was only whilst walking home with my partner that we compared notes. It appeared that my template had been placed fairly close to the left hand edge of the form, and my partner's had been nearer the middle of the form. We phoned a friend and asked where the boxes appear on the ballot paper and were told that they are down the right hand side.

It would therefore appear that both our bballot papers are spoilt and we haven't had a vote in this very important election.

If I never campaign for anything else in my life, I'm determined to get my voice heard on this one.

If you read this, I would urge you, please circulate it as widely as possible. I want as many people to realise how open to error the voting system is for blind people.

Our right to independence relies wholly on a sighted person to line the template up for us, and we have no way of checking that the vote has been cast properly.

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Still on hiatus. By the way.

I'm just tired.

As you know, I'm kinda busy right now (or should be), but I'm just finding kinda... something all these white people coming out to say how Awful and Insulting is to have false accusations of racism directed at them! How their reputation will be tainted if they HAPPEN to be victims of something like that!

So, to do something different, I'm going to write about black football players in Europe. Because people obviously don't want to talk about aversive racism. So I will talk about Overt Racism. Like, happening right now.

So I will write about players like Samuel Eto'o. Samuel Eto'o and his career in Spain, and how white media and public react with these incidents, feeding up a very complex systemic issue. And white people, cry me a river. (And yeah, what happens in these games is part of our reality and important. Just because I know someone will come out and say, "oh, but these people are all just like that! It's part of the game!! Boys will be boys!! I don't take them seriously!!! yaddayadda!!" as if, you know, it doesn't impact real people. So I will not hit you because I'm a good girl. A good girl behind a monitor who can't reach you.)

Yeah, this is just a Wikipedia's article, I have other things, but I can't do this right now:

[...] However, infuriated again by Zaragoza fans' racist chants the next season, Eto'o attempted to walk off the pitch in protest. His teammates intervened and convinced him to continue playing. Video of the incident captured him saying "No más" ("No more") as he walked to the sidelines.

Due to ongoing racism from La Liga crowds, Eto'o no longer brings family members, especially his children, to matches. "It is something that has affected me personally. I think players, leaders, and the media have to join forces so that no one feels looked down upon because of the colour of their skin. At this moment in time I prefer my children don't go to football matches. In the stands they have to listen to things that are difficult to explain to a child. It is better they aren't exposed to it."

I tend to forget these things so I write them. But someone also remind me when my exams are done. Because I fail. (God, I hope I don't forget.) I'm off. For real now.