Nationwide Call to ACTION on the Disability Treaty

CRPD NETWORK CALL TO ACTION
www.disabilitytreaty.org

If you were unable to make our community leadership call last week, we heard from Senator Harkin as he CALLED us to ACTION.

Senator Harkin explained that "the number of calls that came into the Senate offices last year opposing the disability treaty outnumbered the ones that came in supporting it by a factor of 50 to 1. But we also know that the vast majority of the American people want this and support it."

As Marca Bristo, USICD's President, said on the call, "We're calling upon our Senators to have the courage and the dedication to do what's right.... It's seldom that people have a second opportunity to do the right thing."

HOW CAN YOU HELP?

We hope to have a hearing in June in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and we ask you to come and REPRESENT YOUR STATE.

We ask you to make calls, visit your member's offices (either in the Senate or in their local offices), send emails, and talk to the press in your state. Disability advocates have been told by senators and their staffs "we have not decided yet." Do not take their indecision - keep going back UNTIL you get an answer.

You can find your Senators' contact information at www.senate.gov.

If you need assistance in organizing contact USICD (egrant@usicd.org) or DREDFand we will help you.

THE TRUTH CAMPAIGN: ANSWERING THE OPPOSITION
There are three main myths being spread about the treaty and we want to help you answer them for your members.

Sovereignty: Let your U.S. Senators know that you care about this treaty and tell them not to get fooled by the lies and misrepresentation of the leaders of the Home School Legal Defense Association. All human rights treaties passed by the U.S. Senate include the same RUD (RUD = legal binding condition added to treaties) that we have on the Disability Treaty to protect U.S. sovereignty. U.S. sovereignty has not been affected by the those treaties and our sovereignty will not be impacted by this treaty.

Abortion: There is nothing in this treaty that changes abortion rights in this country. It simply states that people with disabilities should have the same access to health care as people without disabilities. It is a statement of non-discrimination only NOT a change in U.S. law or policy.

Homeschooling/parental rights: This is a non-discrimination treaty that does NOT change our law but confirms our commitment to disability rights and allows us to impact disability rights globally! That means NO changes to U.S. laws covering parental rights. That means kids can still can get homeschooled - nothing relating to homeschooling changes. Furthermore, the treaty supports people with disabilities and their right to live in the community among family and protects parents and children from separation on the basis of disability.

We must spread a TRUTH campaign against the lies being told about the treaty [Example: Right now the opposition is circulating a sign-on letter in the House of Representatives addressed to senate leadership indicating their opposition to the treaty. The House does NOT vote on treaties, but they want to attack disability rights on a Senate issue! Check to see if your representative has signed the letter circulated by Representatives Doug Lamborn (CO) and Jeff Duncan (SC).]

REMEMBER

This is not just a disability campaign, our coalition has over 500 organizations representing Veterans, Civil Rights groups, Human Rights groups, Religious groups, GLBT groups, among many others - all working in collaboration. We ask you to contact those groups in your community to join you in the campaign for the passage of the treaty. If you need assistance getting in contact with groups in your area, please contact USICD and we will send you those contacts.

As Senator Harkin said, "If the disability treaty does not pass, it will make it more difficult for other disability legislation in the future. Passing the CRPD would put more life into our efforts on all sorts of disability policies."

We need YOU to help us ensure that the CRPD passes! You can learn more at the new website dedicated to the CRPD: www.disabilitytreaty.org. You can find one pagers, myth/facts, and access a new community webinar. Don't delay - we need you now!