Social Discrimination as a Psychological Barrier for Voters with Disabilities in Indonesia’s 2024 Election

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-517-1_6How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Disabilities; Discrimination; Election; Psychological

Abstract

Elections are manifestation of the concept of democracy. Citizen participation in elections is the primary measure of election success, demonstrating popular sovereignty in determining their leaders and representatives. As inseparable citizens, persons with disabilities have equal rights to participate in elections. However, social stigma remains a challenge for persons with disabilities in achieving equal participation. This qualitative study utilized literature and semi-structured interviewed as data collection methods. The findings highlight the low voter turnout among voters with disabilities in the 2024 Indonesia elections, partly due to persistent social stigma. Perceptions persist that persons with disabilities are insufficiently “competent” in exercising their right to vote, leading to apathy toward their position. This condition ultimately impacts the psychological well-being of persons with disabilities. Low self-efficacy, resulting from social stigma, affects the mental state of persons with disabilities, leading to a lack of confidence in participating in social settings, including elections. This impaired psychological state determines whether or not they will participate in elections. To encourage increased participation of persons with disabilities, eliminating discrimination is a mus. Therefore, to suppress and prevent ongoing social discrimination against persons with disabilities, this research emphasizes increasing public awareness, strengthening social education, and strengthening laws and protections for persons with disabilities. These efforts are the first step in crating acceptance and equality for persons with disabilities, which is expected to promote inclusive and democratic elections in Indonesia.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Muhammad Risal Arifin
AU  - Nafizah Aulia Q. Jamil
AU  - Sukri Tamma
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/24
TI  - Social Discrimination as a Psychological Barrier for Voters with Disabilities in Indonesia’s 2024 Election
BT  - Proceedings of the Borobudur Conference on Public Administration (BCPA 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 52
EP  - 69
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-517-1_6
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-517-1_6
ID  - Arifin2025
ER  -