[blindlaw] "Second chance for disabled" article

[Ross Doerr]

I read this N.Y. Times article online and felt that those on this list who
are engaged in international law may like to read it. I read it with dismay,
and I'm just a lowly Disability Rights Attorney here in the U.S. - 
**

A Second Chance for the World's Disabled
By THE EDITORIAL BOARD N.Y. Times
To read the below article online, go to:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/18/opinion/a-second-chance-for-the-worlds-dis
abled.html?emc=eta1&_r=0

**
There was a painful moment on Capitol Hill in December when former Senator
Bob Dole, seated in a wheelchair, was greeted warmly by old Republican
colleagues but then rebuffed by some of those very same members after he had
urged Senate ratification of a United Nations treaty defending the rights of
people with disabilities. The treaty drew a 61-to-38 vote that fell five
votes short of the needed two-thirds majority after skittish Republicans
bought into a nonsensical attack by right-wing critics that it would
undermine national sovereignty. 
Senator Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat and the chairman of the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is now negotiating with the ranking
committee Republican, Bob Corker of Tennessee, to arrange another vote.
Should Mr. Corker agree, it is essential that Senate Democrats vote as one
to approve the treaty and that Republicans rise above the hackneyed
politicking that undermined the vote last year. With the social-issue
pandering of the 2012 campaign behind us, the treaty can be seen for what it
is: a singular opportunity to apply the principles of the highly effective
Americans With Disabilities Act to the world at large. 

Signed by President Obama in 2009, the treaty has been ratified by 132
countries. Contrary to critics, national sovereignty is in no way
compromised in the treaty's declaration that all people, regardless of
ability, deserve to live in dignity, safety and equality under the law. 

Nor would any recommendations approved by member nations be binding on the
federal or state governments. The whole point of the treaty is to encourage
other nations to match the standards set by the United States in the
Americans With Disabilities Act, approved by a bipartisan majority in 1990
and signed by President George H.W. Bush. It would be ludicrous if the
nation that has been in the forefront of upholding the rights of the
disabled rejected a global treaty affirming those rights. 

Observation from Ross Doerr:
"Americans always try to do the right thing -- after they've tried
everything else."
- - - Winston Churchill