Last week, CEC attended the successful mark up of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities by the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. The committee voted to send the UN CRPD to the full Senate for a vote. In attendance were CEC Division of International Special Education Services (DISES) Past President Alice Farling and President Elect Humberto Rodriguez, CEC member Angel Lopez of the University of Central Florida and Deborah Ziegler, CEC’s Associate Executive Director for Policy and Advocacy Services.
Photo: L-R: CEC Division of International Special Education Services (DISES) Past President Alice Farling; Danny Burger of Naples, Florida; CEC member Angel Lopez of the University of Central Florida; and DISES President Elect Humberto Rodriguez.
Advocacy by CEC’s members has been a fundamental part of the successful mark up. Letters and calls from CEC members helped ensure that this process continues to move forward towards the U.S. ratification of the UN CRPD.
The CRPD is a vital, new instrument for the advancement of rights and opportunities for people with disabilities around the world. This vital nondiscrimination treaty seeks to achieve the same goals as existing disability laws in the United States--to empower individuals with disabilities to achieve economic self-sufficiency, independent living, and inclusion and integration into all aspects of society including education. To learn more about the CRPD, please read CEC’s CRPD Issue Brief.
Please call your senators and ask them to ratify the CRPD now! You can find telephone contact information for your senators here. You can also send a letter through CEC’s Legislative Action Center.
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