[Tn-talk] Fwd: [Nfbnet-master-list] CRPD Call to Action

[Syed Yousufuddin]

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Fredric Schroeder" <fschroeder at sks.com> (by way of David Andrews <dandrews at visi.com>)
> Date: November 1, 2013, 3:23:45 PM CDT
> To: nfbnet-master-list at nfbnet.org
> Subject: [Nfbnet-master-list] CRPD Call to Action
> 
> Dear Fellow Federationists:
> 
> This morning I participated in a meeting with Vice President Joe Biden and
> senior members of his staff. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the
> importance of the United Nations treaty on disability for people around the
> world. The treaty is known as the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons
> with Disabilities (CRPD).
> 
> Last December, President Obama sent the CRPD to the United States Senate for
> ratification. Ratifying a treaty requires a two-thirds majority vote,
> meaning that it takes 67 Senators voting in favor of a treaty for it to be
> ratified. Unfortunately, we fell short of the 67 votes needed to adopt the
> treaty.
> 
> As you may have heard, the Senate is considering voting once again on the
> CRPD. Vice President Biden believes that we have a good chance of getting
> the two-thirds majority needed for ratification this year. Many of the
> members of the Senate who did not support the treaty last year said that
> they did not believe that it was appropriate to vote on a treaty during a
> lame duck session, which is the period following an election before new
> members of the Senate officially take office. This year's vote would not be
> during a lame duck session, so we hope a number of Senators will support the
> new effort to ratify the CRPD.
> 
> I am writing to ask for your help. Below is a list of the members of the
> U.S. Senate who have indicated that they are undecided on how they will vote
> on the disability treaty during this session.  If there are any Senators on
> the list who are from your state, please take the time to write them and
> encourage them to support the CRPD disability rights treaty.
> 
> It is vital that you tell your personal story and include why the treaty
> will benefit you individually. While it is true that the CRPD will not
> require any change to existing federal law, the treaty will have an impact
> on blind people and others with disabilities from the U.S. who wish to study
> or work abroad, or for that matter, wish to travel or live abroad. This is
> where your personal story is important. Let your Senator or Senators know
> that the disability rights treaty matters to you and explain why. Then, get
> other blind people or other people with disabilities to write their Senators
> as well. The members of the Senate who are weighing the value of the
> disability treaty need to know that the treaty is important to blind people
> and to all people with disabilities.
> 
> Please do what you can, and please send a copy of any letters you write to
> Mr. Jesse Hartle at jhartle at nfb.org so we will have a record of the number
> of letters that have been sent in.
> 
> Thank you for your help. This is why we have been so successful in the past;
> it is all of us working together and combining our individual efforts to
> change what it means to be blind.
> 
> Sincerely yours,
> 
> Fredric K. Schroeder
> First Vice President
> NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
> 
> Undecided Senator List
> 
> Senator Alexander, Tennessee
> Senator Blunt, Missouri
> Senator Boozman, Arkansas
> Senator Chambliss, Georgia
> Senator Coats, Indiana
> Senator Coburn, Oklahoma
> Senator Cochran, Mississippi
> Senator Corker, Tennessee
> Senator Fischer, Nebraska
> Senator Flake, Arizona
> Senator Isakson, Georgia
> Senator Johanns, Nebraska
> Senator Johnson, Wisconsin
> Senator Portman, Ohio
> 
> 
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