Commentary on Sections Schedule 1 — Amendments Assistance for persons with disabilities
443.Paragraphs 76 to 80 make changes related to those made by section 73 (Abolition of common law incapacity: mental state).
444.Paragraph 76 introduces a definition of “disability” that includes short-term inabilities to do things. This will permit people with temporary ailments, for example, a person with a broken arm, to seek assistance with voting.
445.Paragraphs 77 to 80 amend the parliamentary election rules, to replace terms such as ‘physical cause’, ‘physical incapacity’ and ‘incapacity’ with the single word ‘disability’, thereby clarifying the language used about disabled people in electoral law and removing the limitation on assistance rules to those with physical disabilities.