On Your Mark, Get Ready....

With the beginning of the new Congress in January 2015, controlled by the Republicans, there is no clear champion of disability rights. If we are smart, we need to see this as an opportunity rather than a deficit. We should build bipartisan pairs of champions on every committee that affects people with disabilities. This window of opportunity will not last long and we must be prepared to offer potential candidates of these bipartisan pairs support for and concrete ideas that improve lives of people with disabilities and strengthen our position as a strong, aggressive advocate for disability rights internationally.

In the Wall Street Journal today Kim Strassel has written an interesting opinion piece, "A GOP Strategy Begins to Emerge" (http://online.wsj.com/articles/kim-strassel-a-gop-strategy-begins-to-emerge-1418946270). Strassel gives several examples of what the GOP has learned over the last six years, broadly speaking, what works and what doesn't work. One interesting tidbit was that Democrats joined Republicans this year "to expand access to charter schools, expedite natural gas exports, and ban taxes on the Internet." Another tidbit is that many Democrats, like Republicans, oppose the medical device tax. And a final one, Republicans realize they have a greater chance of getting substantive changes they want, by sticking such things in spending bills.

One of the GOP's big motivators over the next two years is/will be to show us it knows how to get things done. In such a climate, the GOP will be interested in bipartisan collaboration, meaningful, and yes, clever, negotiation, and new coalition building. We should spend the holiday season reading, thinking, and deciding how to put ourselves on the agenda early before all the "opportunity space" is taken in the new Congress.

Here are a few suggestions:

1. When available, learn who the Republican chairmen and Democrat ranking members on committees in the House of Representatives and Senate are.

2.  Discuss and select issues on which you would send them a message.

3.  Be informed about what is coming up on the calendars in the House and Senate.

4.  Share your interests/messages with others to build coalitions around priorities.

Have a great holiday season, and rest up for 2015. It is going to be an exciting year for us!

Thank you.

Common Grounder

An open letter to Senator Harkin

Dear Senator Harkin:

As you are about to start the next chapter in your life, I would like to give you  something to think about and work on. How about that? Not a thank you letter. Not a-you-will-be-missed-letter, but a to-do letter! I can do that because I am 70, retired, am president of United States International Council on Disabilities, and have a sense of urgency. I started my congressional staff career working for Democrat Congressman Paul Simon of Illinois in the summer of 1980. After the fall election, Austin Murphy, Paul Simon's replacement for the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Select Education, let me go. I was hired by his Republican counterpart and worked for Republicans thereafter. In 1980 I met Bobby Silverstein and our paths have been intertwined ever since. I was Bill Frist's staff director when you relinquished the chairmanship of the Senate Subcommittee on Disability Policy to him in 1995.

In the past there has always been a great deal of bi-partisanship on disability legislation. It must be restored. You could help make that happen. You are being heralded as the last great champion on disability rights. We need more champions, many champions in Congress. You could help make that happen. Each chairman/woman and each ranking member of each congressional committee that touches the lives of persons with disabilities should be our champion. You could help make that happen. The Senate and the House should not continue to assume that it is appropriate or effective to let one person do all the heavy lifting on disability matters. So many took a walk on ratification of the CRPD. 

People with disabilities, their families and friends belong to more than one political party. They vote. They work for candidates. They contribute to campaigns. They represent a substantial component of the population.  Their issues are everyone's issues -- jobs, health care, education, housing, economic prosperity. You could help them get organized, form a PAC and strengthen their voice.

We are the senior generation. We have an obligation to speak candidly with each other and to others, and do the things necessary to help the next generations have a bright future.

Thank you.

Patricia Morrissey

The Future from Here

My brain is a very active thing. Sometimes it chooses to do thinking, when I prefer to chill. Last night was special. The U.S. International Council on Disabilities (USICD) held its inaugural fund raising gala at the Institute of Peace. Although I may be biased, being USICD's new president, I'd say it was a smashing success.  Most ticket holders showed up (200+) in spite of the weather; we had a harp and a bag pipe, great food and beverage, hors d'ouvres, and a turkey buffet. The best part was when we gave Professor Gerard Quinn of Ireland and Senator Tom Harkin awards for their tireless efforts on behalf of disability rights. 

Today Senator Harkin talked to many advocates by phone urging that we ask all potential presidential candidates in 2016 where they stand on ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). That is a great suggestion and one to put in our hip pockets.

I have decided that the focus of my blog for awhile will be the Senate. We need to get to know the new Senate -- the new chairmen on committees that are important to us, the new members that need to shape their priority list, and the ones who may be retiring in 2016. We should each adopt a Senator for the next two years. We should learn as much as we can about him or her and offer to help this Senator on things that are important to him or her. Gradually, we can introduce them to disability issues, advocates, and challenges, through conversations, talking points, and visits to special places where great things are happening and places where things need to happen.

If we each adopt a Senator and do the things I've suggested here as well as other actions, over the next two years the bipartisan interest and support for disability rights will be refreshed, restored, and expanded. It would be beyond amazing if, by 2016 we have 100 Senators who understand the power of inclusion, accessibility, and opportunity from the perspective of us with disabilities and our allies.

Please decide to adopt a Senator and see how you can change the climate in Washington,D.C.

Thank you.

Common Grounder

Please checkout my Kindle book --  A Moral Imperative:  U.S. Ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Book link: http://t.co/Vigyant7aM.  Take 2 will be out in February 2015. 

A Senate Vote on the CRPD Is Unlikely

It appears that a vote on the CRPD is not going to happen. The 67 votes we want aren't there according to reliable counters of votes. The Senators who are with us, 61, still are, but six more would not publicly commit. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will not schedule a vote without an assurance that there will be 67 votes in favor of ratification of the CRPD.

I am going to spend my time, going forward, raising money for the USICD so that it will positioned well to share the U.S. experience with the ADA with others overseas and learn about innovative approaches to disability rights issues from other countries to share in the U.S.

I know right now we all have the urge to be angry, to vent, and to blame someone. Do that with your friends in private. Our best collective course is to celebrate and sustain the great partnerships that were formed during the CRPD campaign, to introduce ourselves to the new Congress, and ask all those Senators, who have said we are the international leader on disability rights, to help us secure federal funds to do/show that.

There are many heroes who you may want to know and thank. Their names are in the forward to my book (Link: http://t.co/Vigyant7aM). If you want to thank them though this blog, you can comment on this post and I will pass your thanks on to them.

Unless a miracle happens and Senator Reid gives us a vote without a guaranteed outcome -- so we will know specifically who is and who isn't for access, freedom, opportunity, and disability rights and believes in the strength of our Constitution -- this is my last post on the CRPD.

If you plan to attend the U.S. International Council on Disabilities Gala (visit www.usicd.org to buy a $75 ticket), December 2, 2014, 6-8:30 p.m. at the Institute of Peace, 2301 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C., please come up and say hello. I'll be there.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Common Grounder

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