UPDATE: Support the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Important Update: The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has rescheduled the meeting on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities for Thursday, July 26, 2012, at 9:30 a.m. ET. Thank you to everyone who has responded to this call to action. If you haven’t already, there’s still time to contact your senators and urge them to support this important agreement.

Update 2: The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has approved the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities! The treaty may now be brought to the Senate floor for ratification! This is a critical step toward ratification, but please continue to urge your Senators to support the CRPD!


Original Post: The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities will be considered Thursday, July 19, 2012, by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. This represents the next step forward in considering and signing the U.N.’s landmark human rights agreement. To do so means the United States reaffirms the inherent dignity, worth and independence of all persons with disabilities around the world.

But there is a serious and immediate opposition, led by the Home School Legal Defense Association (and based on inaccuracies), which has inundated Senate offices with letters and calls in recent days. (You can view and download a fact sheet that dispels the myths the HSLDA and others are spreading about the CRPD.) Do not let this be the only voice that is heard!

Here’s how you can help

1) Tell your state networks to contact their U.S. Senators and voice their support for the Convention – you may use language in this e-mail – please share this call to action by phone, e-mail, Facebook, Twitter and other means

2) If you can, attend the Senate meeting Thursday, July 19 – we need this room to be filled with disability advocates

Date/Time: Thursday, July 19, 9:30 a.m.
Location: Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room G-50

What to tell your Senator

“As an advocate for the rights of people with disabilities, I strongly urge your support of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. By signing this Convention, the United States will join others in reaffirming the rights, dignity and independence of people with disabilities around the world.”

The Capitol Switchboard phone number is (202) 224-3121, or click here to look up your Senators.

About the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was adopted on December 13, 2006, at the United Nations headquarters in New York, where it received widespread and immediate support from 82 signatories. It is the first comprehensive human rights treaty of the 21st century, and follow decades of work by the United Nations to change attitudes and approaches to persons with disabilities around the world. The Convention reaffirms that all persons with all types of disabilities must enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms.