International advocate for the rights of people living with disabilities, Jamaica’s Professor Floyd Morris is urging members of the disabled community and immediate family members to elect people who will look out for their interests.

Addressing the Multi-regional Global Disability Pre Summit in Amman, Jordan on Thursday, Morris, who is also the Opposition People’s National Party’s spokesman on housing and sustainable living, pointed to the estimated 1.3-bilion people living with disabilities worldwide.

He argued that with each of the people with disabilities having at least two close immediate family members that number becomes a strong voting bloc.

According to Morris, people with disabilities must now exercise their right to vote and to participate in the political and public life to impact the decision making process and say to political parties, “if you are not going to look out for our interests then you are not going to get our vote”.

Morris added: “That is what we have to do in order to impact the decision making process because politics is a numbers game and politicians pay attention to numbers.  So I believe if we adopt that approach globally and exercise our right to vote, to leverage support for our disability agenda, we will see meaningful change.”

The Multi-regional Global Disability Pre Summit was planned to facilitate the exchange of expertise and experiences to improve the lives of persons with disabilities across all areas and to support impactful commitments ahead of the 2025 Global Disability Summit, which is scheduled to take place in Berlin in April.

It was co-organised by Jordan, Germany, and the International Disability Alliance, with the goal of mobilising advocacy for these commitments and ensuring their implementation.

The preparatory conference was attended by prominent figures, including ministers and ambassadors, representatives of international organisations, government agencies, civil society institutions, academics, experts, and disability rights activists, as well as organisations of persons with disabilities.