Absolutely. Thank you, Scott Reid. We're proud of the work we've been able to do right across Lanark County and indeed across the country. We applaud you and the minister for selecting us to meet, because who better else to know than the members who face the challenges each and every day.
Anxiety attack: Diane actually brought that up at the meeting. She brought that up, but also a lot of the challenges that she's heard from her members.
With respect to anxiety attacks, a huge crowd affects people. It actually turns them away. When they go into the voting station there are too many people. Then they start having an anxiety attack, and then they turn around and walk out the door because they think, “Well, I'm not going to vote when there are 40 people there.” It could be a lower number, but they turn around and walk away. They don't want to have a big showdown for everybody out there, because they're already being labelled as it is. That's a huge thing. That's why I say that having an extra advance polling day hopefully will get people to take that opportunity and use that.
It creates stigma, and they're going through more than a lot of us know. I have a twin who is diagnosed with schizophrenia and developmental disability. He can't be around a huge crowd. How do I get him to vote? I used to say, “Okay, let's go to the voting station and vote.” As soon as he walks in there and sees 20, 30 people, he walks away. Then he actually hides in the washroom because he's afraid. As his twin brother—and there are many who don't have that support—my role is to really guide him and say, “It's okay. Nobody's looking at you. It's okay.” That's fine and dandy for me to say, but I don't know what he's going through. Then he walks away. On an advance polling day, he could walk in and there would be maybe just a few people. Then he can slowly go over there and vote, but he still has the anxiety of whether 10 more people are going to walk in the door.
That's a huge concern. How do you deal with that? I think you deal with it on an individual basis as they come in. You make sure that when people are working, they have accessible staff who are there to guide people.
Not many people have families. Not many people have someone who they can lean on for support. My twin Kyle is lucky. He has a huge family in Carleton Place, but I can tell you that 95% of our members don't have loved ones and families who they can rely on for support to guide them.
I think that's really critical when you're looking at this to ensure that the individual's interests should be ahead of everything else and make sure that they feel comfortable. It could be a side room. They could be told, “It's okay. There are many people who have anxiety, so here's a room where you can vote.”
I hope that answers your question in terms of the anxiety.