Dr Yusuf Ali Osman, who is registered blind, has reached a settlement with Croydon Council after challenging it for failing to make reasonable adjustments to make postal voting more accessible for him.
Croydon Council: basic failures around accessibility
The challenge was launched after Dr Osman was unable to vote by post without assistance in two 2024 elections. He instead had to rely on a friend for assistance, compromising his ability to vote secretly and independently.
In the lead-up to the London General Authority Election in May and General Election in July, Dr Osman was only sent hard copies of postal voting documents which contained no instructions or information in Braille. This was despite the council being aware of his visual impairment.
While Dr Osman owns software able to scan and read out plain text, other information contained in tables or images is often interpreted inaccurately. The software does not allow him to identify where on the ballot to cast his vote, or,assist with marking it.
In order to vote by post, Dr Osman therefore had to ask a friend for assistance. This involved his friend reading out the contents of the voting documents and filling in Dr Osman’s details, before ticking the box of Dr Osman’s chosen candidate and preparing the documents to send in the correct envelope.
Dr Osman, a 45-year-old man with a doctorate, tries to live as independently as possible, and found having to rely on someone else to exercise his fundamental right to vote disempowering.
Following these experiences, Dr Osman instructed Leigh Day to act on his behalf and a letter before claim was sent to the council in August 2024.
Finally making reasonable adjustments
Dr Osman raised concerns about the Croydon Council’s failure to anticipate and act on the needs of disabled voters, and to provide reasonable adjustments to enable them to exercise their right to vote independently and in secret.
Dr Osman requested that he and other visually impaired voters be provided with correspondence and documents relating to voting in accessible formats, such as Braille or in digital formats that are readable by relevant software.
He also invited the council to consider providing him and other voters with accessibility devices such as a McGonagle Reader, an audio-tactile device which helps visually impaired individuals to vote independently and in secret.
In February 2025, the council agreed to pay Dr Osman £750 in compensation, and confirmed that it would make reasonable adjustments for visually impaired people like Dr Osman at future elections. The council also offered for Dr Osman to be involved in wider consultations, including with the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), regarding appropriate reasonable adjustments for visually impaired voters, and has invited him to discuss the particular challenges that he faces voting by post and how these can be addressed.
Croydon Council must do better
Dr Osman said of his battle with Croydon Council:
From my first vote in the General Election of 2001 right up until the General Election of 2024 I have never been able to vote independently and in secret. I hope that with the agreement with Croydon Council I might finally be able to do this. I’d like to thank my legal team for all their hard work and efforts and the willingness of Croydon Council to find a way through this situation that will meet my needs and the needs of other blind and visually impaired people going forward.
I look forward to working with officers at the council.
Leigh Day solicitor Carolin Ott, who represents Dr Osman together with Aurelia Buelens, said:
I am pleased to have reached a settlement for my client that not only secures financial compensation, but also puts steps in place to improve accessibility for blind and visually impaired voters. My client hopes that the resolution of this matter will help ensure that visually impaired voters will be offered reasonable adjustments to allow them to vote independently and in secret at future elections. The right to vote is a fundamental constitutional right and disabled voters must be properly supported in their exercise of that right.
RNIB legal adviser Samantha Fothergill said:
For too long blind and partially sighted people have been denied the right to vote independently and in secret. We also know that the postal voting process remains particularly inaccessible. We welcome the steps now being taken by Croydon Council to address this issue and look forward to working with them and with Dr Osman to ensure that an independent and secret vote becomes a reality for blind and partially sighted residents of Croydon at the next election.
Featured image via the Canary
