A Letter to Young People of the USA: The CRPD and You

Dear Young Friends,

The future belongs to you. Those of us ahead of you would probably get a C- grade for stewardship if the determining factor was success in obtaining the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Right now Washington DC is a crazy place. The president is about to take unilateral action on immigration and the Republicans are very upset about it. The Senate and House are about to pass legislation to build a transcontinental pipeline that environmentalists don't like and on which, the president kept deferring a decision, to appease them. I suspect he hoped it would just go away. In the midst of all this the Association of University Centers on Disabilities had its annual meeting. Many of you, who are trainees at universities, went on Capitol Hill to talk to staff about disability issues, including the ratification of the CRPD. Since the day you made this trip to the Hill was the first day back for members, you probably did not get the undivided attention of staff or senators when you raised issues.

Many people who have written or talked about the younger generation of Americans have said that you are concerned about the environment, care about other people, want to do things to make the planet a better place, and have tremendous debt because of your education. You like a good cause and can be motivated to take action to make things move in the right direction.

Well, you can sure help us now. We have next week and perhaps two weeks in December to bring about a Senate floor vote on the CRPD. Here are the things I urge you to do.

1. Gather with a number of your friends, scan this blog for some talking points on the CRPD, and then everybody make calls to Majority Leader Harry Reid's Office (He is from Nevada and controls the Senate schedule until the end of this session of Congress, which ends in mid-December) and ask for a floor about on the CRPD. His number is -- 202.224.3542. Senate offices count calls for and against the CRPD, so they are worth making. You could also put messages on Harry Reid's Facebook page (www.facebook.com/SenatorReid) and through his Twitter account (@SenatorReid). Unless you're from Nevada, email messages don't work because staff only read those from the state of Nevada (www.reid.senate.gov/contact). So if you're not from Nevada you can't really weigh in effectively via email.

2.  IF you're not from Nevada, you and your friends should also contact your state senators and urge them to call Harry Reid and ask him to arrange for a Senate floor vote on the CRPD.

3.  Keep track of your efforts and if you are willing, share them with me at amdreambelongstoeveryone@comcast.net. Please put CRPD in the subject line.

4. If you are lucky enough to get into a conversation with a live person in a Senate office, here are the points I would make.

-- The U.S. must join the 151 countries that have ratified the CRPD.

-- Disability rights do not stop at a geographical border -- they are principles that are universally celebrated, sought after, and recognized as a sign of country's commitment to human rights.

-- Please find the way to find the words that will overcome differences among Senators. Those of us who are young, with and without disabilities, want the U.S. to remain a strong, influential voice for a more accessible world that offers unlimited opportunities for each of us to participate and contribute to community life.

Young friends, if you help us in the next few weeks we stand an excellent chance of securing ratification. We need your energy. We need your voices. We need your vision of the future.

Thank you.

Common Grounder

Low Hanging Fruit

Senators will be back in town on November 12th. Republicans are focused on taking over the Senate, planning on how to get things done, and packing boxes. Democrats are focusing on what they can do between now and mid-December of this year, determining on what they can agree with Republicans when they take over the Senate, and backing boxes. On one thing Republicans and Democrats agree – the American people want them to figure out how to work together. In my October 1, 2014 post I reported on a poll that was taken of 1,000 likely voters. It was not a poll of disabled voters, just 1,000 voters. A majority, who identified themselves as Republican, Democrat or Independent, thought that ratification of the CRPD was a good idea. Our job this week is to convince Senators that these poll results make sense, that ratification of the CRPD makes sense, and that by debating it and voting on it, they will be doing something that the American public supports. They will be showing that they can get along and agree on disability rights and making a move that improves the U.S. standing in the world.

If you're in town for the AUCD conference, please take time to visit your Senators and ask them to ask Majority Leader Reid and Minority Leader McConnell to let the Senate process play out on the CRPD. Let's have vigorous debate and a vote. If you're not in town but have a phone, computer, or other device with which you could communicate with your Senators, please do so. It's time Senators consider ratification of the CRPD as low hanging fruit from which they will both receive benefit, short term and long term.

Thank you.

Common Grounder

CRPD: What Should Happen Post-Election?

Campaigning highlights differences among candidates, not common ground on issues or similarities on the role of government. A small portion of those eligible to vote, voted. Media coverage said that young and minority voters were especially scarce. One of the reasons given for the 38% voter turnout was government gridlock.

No one can dispute that we have a "new day" ahead of us with the success of the Republicans in capturing control of the Senate. Those of us who have a strong interest in immediate ratification of the CRPD have an opportunity. We should urge Senators Reid and McConnell to let Senate process proceed to a vote on the CRPD. It is an affirmative move with broad implications.

First, it will demonstrate that both the current and future leaders of the Senate agree a tested Senate process should play out on the CRPD. After all, this is a democracy. Senators have the right and obligation to let the American public know how they view the CRPD.

Second, the Americans with Disabilities Act and the CRPD call for nondiscrimination on the basis of disability. Any individual with a disability should have access to opportunities (in education, health care, employment, training, housing, leisure, and more) available to others and be a full participant and contributor to community life. Such principles are universally endorsed and should know no borders. Senators should embrace the chance to reaffirm these principles for the nation and the world. After all, disability rights have experienced a long history of bipartisanship in the U.S.

Third, 151 countries have ratified the CRPD. We need to let the rest of the world know where the U.S. stands. We need to get the Senate vote on the CRPD behind us, so we can move on.

A large number of Senators should want a vote on the CRPD. Senators who are retiring or leaving the Senate will welcome a vote on the CRPD to add to their legacy. Senators who have offered support for the CRPD in meetings, in hearings, correspondence, and statements, will finally have the chance to take the only action that really matters. Senators, who have asked us to wait till after the election, who needed more time, can let us know unequivocally where they stand. Senators who have a new six-year contract with their constituents, can cast a vote that is right and safe. Senators who want the CRPD to be defeated soundly can test their powers of persuasion during debate.

If you agree with me, let Senators Reid and McConnell know.

Thank you,

Common Grounder

It's Risky to Go into the Weeds but Sometimes You Have No Choice

In an article (

http://hslda.org/landingpages/crpd/docs/HSLDA_statement_on_RUDs.pdf)

 he wrote in July 2014, Michael Farris, Chairman of the Homeschool Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), said that the new reservations, understandings, and declarations (RUDs), which are part of the resolution passed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee July 22, 2014, are not strong enough to protect the right of parents to homeschool their children with disabilities.

First, he quotes a Congressional Research Service article from 2001. It defines the differences among reservations, understandings, and declarations. I have to admit that these dated definitions appear weak, confusing, and of questionable value. That said, there have been other views written and stated by legal scholars more recently as well as more recent Supreme Court decisions that strongly suggest RUDs have legal value (see my posts for 10/12/13 and 6/4/14).

Second, although Farris doesn't like the CRPD, he raises the fact that the U.S. ignored the provisions in a treaty the U.S. has ratified (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)) when it attempted to deport a  homeschooling German family, who had overstayed its visa. The U.S. Government came to its senses and is now letting the family remain here. If they had gone back to Germany, the parents could have been jailed. I supported the German family being allowed to stay here (blog post 10/5/13).

Well, it seems that Farris likes the words in some treaties, but not the CRPD. There are two provisions on homeschooling in the new resolution on the CRPD. Farris could recommend some text from his Constitutional amendment on parents' rights (blog post 11/8/13). He could recommend text from the ICCPR. Either could be a framework for a conversation for an amendment to the resolution.

Farris implies that government officials cannot be trusted and they will use treaty obligations in nefarious ways. When in court making the case for the German family to stay here, his legal team used various laws and treaties to make the case. This is the way of lawyers, throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks. So, Farris uses treaties when it suits him. He doesn't mind challenging the states' right to educate by proposing a constitutional amendment when it suits him.

I think it is misguided and bordering on tragic that ratification of the CRPD can be high jacked by a single-issue force that selectively uses facts.

In this week before the election please talk to your Senators. If either Senator supports the CRPD, ask him or her to ask Majority Leader Reid for a floor vote. If not, ask him to vote for the CRPD.

Thank you.

Common Grounder

The Problem with the Senate

There are 435 Representatives in the House of Representatives. Each represents a district rather than a whole state as do Senators. Representatives, if not retiring, must run for reelection every two years. When elected, Senators serve six-year terms. So some of the dynamics and pressures that Senators react to are different than their House colleagues. They have more time to think about things without worry about fund raising non-stop. The Senate is called the "deliberative body". In the abstract, they have more time to ponder. However, in reality they must absorb and deal with everything the 435 Representatives cover. There are only 100 Senators, about 1/4 the person power the House has. That creates three problems for the likes of us.

First, Senators focus on what they think it is important to them and only WHEN they think it is important. Second, staff guard Senators' time as if it were the gold in Fort Knox. So you only get to a Senator if the Senator wants to see you. Third, staff have tremendous power because they influence what a Senators sees and does. The net effect of these parameters is that any issue, any constituency, is lucky if it has one champion for its cause. Senators as a practical matter divide things up. They just don't have the time to be well-versed and champions of too many causes or experts on too many issues.

So here we are with little time left. Senator Harkin is our champion and he's retiring. If we want a vote on the CRPD, he's the one expected to convince Majority Leader Reid to schedule a floor vote without unrealistic conditions (i.e., a guarantee of 67 votes if a floor vote were scheduled). That's a heavy load. But, other Senators think it's Senator Harkin's job. They have their own priorities.

Well, at this point I think the only way Senator Reid will schedule a floor vote without conditions would be if tons of Senators, who support ratification of the CRPD, ask Reid for a floor vote. Making that happen is EVERY Senator's business, not just Harkin's. They all have a vested interest in disability rights, the U.S. standing and credibility in international circles, and what a major, diverse, constituency block has been advocating for, for a long time.

So, over the next 10 days ask every Senator to talk to Reid. If you do we may be able to do what needs to be done -- join the 150 nations that have ratified the CRPD.

Thank you.

Common Grounder

CRPD: Whoever Heard of a Guaranteed Vote?

When the CRPD came up for a vote on December 4, 2012, Majority Leader Harry Reid thought he had the votes. Former Majority Leader Bob Dole was on the floor of the Senate, using a wheelchair, and had received assurances from several of his friends that they would vote for the treaty. The vote was 61 to 38. Those for the treaty fell short by six.

All people who have talk to Senator Reid or his staff have said that he will not bring the treaty up again for a vote until he has a guarantee of 67 votes for it. That's the number you need at a minimum to pass an international treaty.

A vote is sacred. Especially on polarized issues on which the feelings are strong. With such issues elected officials tend to keep the way they plan to vote between the themselves and God and even then they could change their minds. That's the way it is. In all honesty there was no way we can guarantee Senator Reid 67 votes even if we wanted to.

There are probably some Senators in both parties that wish a vote on the CRPD would just go away. They don't want it. They don't need it. Senator Reid is doing them a favor by setting the bar for a vote so high.

Well, whether the Democrats retain or lose control of the Senate on November 4, 2014 we need a vote on the CRPD sometime between November 12th and when the Congress closes down for Christmas. We need to know how each Senator feels about the CRPD, and what he/she has to say about it. For us a vote on the CRPD is a special vote. What Senators say about the CRPD before the vote is important to us. When Senator Harkin retires from the Senate this year we will be looking for new members to partner with us and champion disability issues that come before the Senate in the future.

However the vote on the CRPD would go, I think political strategists on all sides will be able to find a spin to suit a particular agenda. Their agenda Is not our agenda. Our agenda is to strengthen the position of the U.S. in the area of disability rights around the world and identify potential partners on disability issues in the Senate.

In a little over a week we will be voting. In the meantime gets some FaceTime with your Senators.

Thank you.

Common Grounder

CRPD: Don't Miss an Opportunity to Connect "Live" with Senators

There are 14 days until election day on November 4, 2014. Anyone who's tried to schedule a meeting directly with a Senator realizes that it's no easy task. Meetings with many interest groups are relegated to staff only. The circumstances are different if you're a big supporter, a close friend, a witness in a hearing, or a donor at a fund raiser. Granted, a Senator's time is precious, more valuable than gold, therefore, they have to have effective gatekeepers and be good delegators. So how do you get to them? The answer is as plain as the nose on your face. You get to them back home at a public event. At these events you can ask them questions, tell them what's on your mind, and ask them for their support for something. Gatekeepers have only partial control and everyone hears and sees how they respond to you.The situation is perfect. So folks it's time to get off our derrières, find those guys, and talk to them before they return to Washington D.C.

Now we have real leverage and access before we vote. If each of us would just make one attempt to say something to a senator between now and election day, think about the impact that would have!

Last night Senator Bob Dole was on the News Hour with Judy Woodruff (CRPD discussion begins at 4:00 minutes http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/bob-dole-tells-lawmakers-to-get-together/). She asked him at one point if he thought the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) would be voted on by the Senate. He said that it could come up for a vote when the Senate returns on November 12th and before it leaves for Christmas, which will be the end of the current Congress. If the CRPD does not pass by then, we have to start over. In addition, the pundits project that Republicans will take control of the Senate in January 2015. If that happens our task will be even more challenging.

If you have been reading this blog or have visited www.disabilitytreaty.org, you know what to say to a Senator when you encounter him at a public event within the next two weeks. Those of you who live in states where the Senate races are very, very tight have incredible leverage. In these races the margin of error is around three points. In these races the differences in polling numbers between candidates are often under three points. That means that the race could go either way. That means one conversation with you about the CRPD could be a deciding factor in who returns to the Senate or who enters the Senate for the first time. Think about it. Then, if you really care about disability rights, find a Senator and talk to him. If two people do this it looks pitiful. If we each do it, it projects real power. A choice like this should be a no-brainer.

Common Grounder