URGENT: Support CRPD, Deaf-Friendly “Disability Treaty”
URGENT: Support CRPD, Deaf-Friendly “Disability Treaty”
WE NEED YOUR HELP!
The marathon battle for the U.S. ratification of the deaf-friendly “Disability Treaty” may soon have its end in sight. But only if thousands of supporters across the country take action now! That means YOU!
What can you do?
- MAKE CALLS!! We need everyone to call and email Senators as often as you can. Tell them over and over to ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)! Don’t stop until they ratify!
The CRPD Action Center at http://disabilitytreaty.org offers tools that can help you communicate with Senators. This includes a template email and a script for phone calls. The same site has a FAQ on the CPRD.Every call really does matter. Set up phone banks for your dorms, organizations or classes. Hold events where everyone calls together!
In addition to your own Senators, you also can call Senator Menendez and Senator Corker. As Chair and Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, they represent all Americans.
- Sign and disseminate the petitions! Youth below age 30 can sign a petition for young people at http://bit.ly/Youth4CRPD. People of all ages can sign another petition at http://disabilitytreaty.org. Every signature really does matter!!
- The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee has scheduled two hearings on the CRPD for November 5 and 12, 2013. WE NEED YOU TO COME. Bring your friends, family, and classmates. Help us FILL THE ROOM. Show the Senators your support. Monitor http://www.foreign.senate.gov/hearings/ for forthcoming details on time and location.
Facts to Remember:
- The CRPD is the first international treaty to recognize the inclusion of sign language and deaf culture in society.
- More than 700 disability, veterans, faith, business, and humanitarian organizations support CRPD ratification. These include the National Association of the Deaf (NAD), Gallaudet University, and the U.S. International Council on Disabilities (USICD).
- More materials on the CRPD for the Deaf, deaf, and hard of hearing communities are available at http://bit.ly/DeafCRPD
Last year, we lost by only 5 votes. This may be our last chance for a long time. Please help us succeed this year!
Please let us know what you are doing! Any questions? Contact: Andrea Shettle at ashettle@usicd.org, video phone 202-540-8812. Other questions on the CRPD campaign can be directed to Eileen Magan at emagan@usicd.org.
Please circulate this text freely to all U.S. deaf and hard of hearing community members, their friends, loved ones, and allies. Reblog or copy/paste the text into email, Facebook, etc.
If you have a website, put the logo below on your website and link it to http://disabilitytreaty.org
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )Five Ways to Support the CRPD Ratification Campaign!
UPDATE: Yes, the fight is still on to ratify the CRPD in 2013!
1. Educate yourself about the CRPD!
- The acronym CRPD stands for “Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities”. It is an international treaty defending the human rights of people with disabilities ratified by 127 countries—but not the US. We’re working to fix that!
- Learn the basics via a FAQ on the CRPD and this video (yes, with subtitles). For more intensive learning, find more CRPD resources
- Keep up with the news at USICD’s CRPD updates page Follow @USICD in Twitter and in Facebook
- If you are a college or university student, follow @AdvocatEquality in twitter and visit Students4CRPD.
2. Talk to Senators!
- Sign on to the open letter from individual citizens to US senators!
- Visit http://www.senate.gov to find the website for each of your two senators. The website will have their contact information. Email them, call them, tweet them, or leave messages at their Facebook page! In twitter, use the hashtag #CRPD
- Your message for senators: “I am a person with disabilities–please ratify the CRPD in 2012! This is an important issue for the disability community!” If desired, you can say what your disabilities are. Or say that you know someone with disabilities, or that you are a US veteran, etc. Visit USICD’s website for more sample CRPD messages for senators.
3. Lend your Face!
- Let senators see the many faces of people who support the CRPD! Take a picture of you holding your own homemade sign supporting the CRPD. Individuals, couples, or groups are all welcome! Look at more pictures for ideas.
- You can make your sign with poster board or a blank piece of paper. Use magic markers, or your printer.
- Send the picture to Susie Richard srichard@usicd.org at USICD for their growing collection! Ask your friends and relatives to contribute pictures also!
- If you have Twitter, you can tweet pictures to senators with the #CRPD hashtag.
4. Recruit your Friends and Family!
- Educate your friends and family about the CRPD. Ask them to call, email, or tweet their senators–and contribute pictures!
- Follow @USICD in Twitter and re-tweet them often. “Share” the USICD Facebook page with your friends. Link to this post from your blog or website.
- Are you a university student or faculty member? Consider creating a chapter of Students4CRPD on YOUR campus!
5. What Can YOUR Organization Do?
- Your organization can sign on to USICD’s letter of support from organizations for the CRPD. (Check the list to learn what other organizations have signed on.)
- Consider sending your own letter to senators explaining why your organization wants the US to ratify. (Read letters of support from other organizations). Send a PDF copy to Susie Richard so she can post it to USICD’s website.
- Encourage your organization’s constituents to contact senators supporting the CRPD.
- Consider making your own group picture of people who support the CRPD! See examples of pictures here. Send your group picture to srichard@usicd.org at USICD!
- Communicate with USICD about these and other ways to help the effort.
Simple Ways to Help Iranian Free Speech #IranElection #gr88
Français; Español; Türkçe; Deutsch
I am neutral on the Iranian election. But I am very pro freedom of speech. Whether we agree or disagree with any given Iranian citizen, they ought to have the right to express their views. Here are simple ways you can help them defeat attempts at censorship in Iran:
1. Do you twitter? Change your twitter location to any city in Iran. If all of us are Iranians then it is a little harder for government censors to track down Iranian tweeters. (See list of Iranian cities at http://is.gd/13UCt.) Some people say you should also change your time zone to Tehran time, which is 3.5 hours past GMT (GMT +3:30). Other people say the time zone is irrelevant. Decide for yourself.
2. Read a list of a few more simple ideas for how you can help at http://is.gd/13TK4 (This is the “BoingBoing” post for those of you who have been around enough to see it already. Also read 6 ways the Western World Can Support Iranian Activists at http://is.gd/18jZ9. (Those of you looking for more ambitious ideas for how to be involved, read #4 and #5 below.)
3. Finished with #1 and #2 above? Recruit others to help too. Spread the word. Here are a few ways you can do this:
- Tweet this phrase:
Simple ways to help Iranian free speech: http://is.gd/13U0V #IranElection #gr88 Pls RT
- Also consider copy/pasting this announcement into your blog or facebook page so more people will see it. Or simply link to its original home at http://is.gd/13U0V. (If you copy/paste, please copy the text from its original home to ensure that you have any updated URLs or other information.)
- Also, consider voting for this blog post (http://is.gd/13U0V) at one or more of the following: http://www.stumbleupon.com/, http://www.reddit.com/; http://is.gd/13WVR (digg.com) That will help more people find it.
4. Looking for more ideas how to help? Consult http://iran.sharearchy.com/. This provides instructions on how you can set up your own proxy server to help Iranians blog more safely (easier than you might think, though with certain caveats which you will need to read at the link). It also has more tips for how to participate in global dialogue and mobilize support in a way that protects the safety of Iranian bloggers and tweeters.
But before you pass along information about your proxy server, make sure it is running correctly. Many proxy servers don’t help because they aren’t configured correctly. Learn more about potential problems and how to fix them at http://is.gd/193F8. And test your proxy at http://is.gd/18Mlj.
5. Are you bilingual? Please consider providing translation assistance so that people all around the world can learn about ideas for how to support free speech no matter what language they communicate in. For more details, go to http://is.gd/14PMh.
6. Want to follow the “tweets” about Iran? At twitter.com, do a search for #IranElection or #gr88 These are the two official hash tags used by Iranian bloggers themselves. (Hash tags are used to help find tweets on specific topics). As the “boing boing” post says, do be on guard. Some tweets are very legitimate, but others are rumors, speculation, or even outright disinformation. Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 68 so far )
On-going Human Rights Violation: Woman Being Denied Basic Care
We in the disability human rights community have an opportunity to save a life. A quick summary: a woman with disabilities in Sudsbury, Ontario, Canada (Minna Mettinen- Kekalainen) is SUPPOSED to be receiving home care services. The North East Community Care Access Center has been denying her these services. Minna says this is because she had complained about their nurses because they had failed to follow her doctor’s orders. Minna was on a prolonged hunger strike, starving herself to death in an attempt to pressure the CCAC to provide her the services she needs. She has started eating again, at least for now. But she is still being profoundly neglected. Please take a few minutes to support efforts among disability rights activists to save her life.
1. First, read more about the situation at the following two links. You will also want to read the comments that people have left, because people are using the comments area at this blog page to exchange more information and ideas on how people can help: http://ballastexistenz.autistics.org/?p=572 and http://ballastexistenz.autistics.org/?p=573
2. Send an email to the following people to urge them to intervene on Minna’s behalf so she can receive the home care services that she is asking for: Sudbury MPP Rick Bartolucci Constituency Office email: rbartolucci.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org
Ministry of Community Safety & Correctional Services email: rick.bartolucci@ontario.ca
Minister of Health & Long-Term Care David Caplan: ccu.moh@ontario.ca
Non-Canadians can use these email addresses, too. If enough individual people write to them, they may take notice.
3. Consider also communicating with the North East Community Care Access Center on Minna’s behalf. This is the center that is refusing care to Minna (unfortunately there seems to be no email contact for them):
North East Community Care Access Centre (the centre that is refusing care to Minna)
Head Office/Sudbury Branch
1760 Regent Street
Sudbury ON P3E 3Z8
(705) 522-3461 or 1 (800) 461-2919 (Sudbury
To access the Long-Term Care ACTION Line call: 1-866-876-7658 or TTY: 1-800-387-5559.
(More detail on their Complaints and Appeals Process at http://tinyurl.com/aeu6vt)
4. Also consider communicating with the Maison Vale Inco Hospice–this is a different place (NOT related to the North East Community Care Access Center), and Minna would like to be admitted there.
Maison Vale Inco Hospice (the place Minna hopes to gain admittance to)
(705) 674-9252
1028 South Bay Rd. Sudbury, ON P3E 6J7
Website: http://www.maisonsudburyhospice.org/
Resident Care Coordinator Elaine Klym: elaine@maisonsudburyhospice.org
Executive Director is Léo Therrie
5. If you will be in Ontario on January 23, consider joining a protest and march on Minna’s behalf.
6. Join the Facebook group, “Minna’s Hunger Strike–Call to Action for an ALS Patient Denied Care” to learn the latest news on what is happening with Minna’s case and what people are doing to help. If you are not already a member of Facebook, it only takes a few minutes to sign up for a free account.
7. Please circulate this text further via your network of contacts in the disability and human rights communities, Facebook page, blog site, etc.
Thank you for taking action.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 8 so far )Jerry Lewis, Hersholt Award, and Gay Slurs
People with disabilities are not the only people who are offended at Jerry Lewis receiving a humanitarian award. GLBT people object to the idea because Jerry has made homophobic slurs. Read more at http://www.altfg.com/blog/actors/jerry-lewis-gay-slur-controversy/
Bev at Asperger Square 8 has once again lent her visual talents by combining pictures of Jerry with some of his more insidious quotes about people with disabilities. At http://aspergersquare8.blogspot.com/2009/01/protest-pity.html
Learn more about Jerry Lewis’ humanitarian award and the petition campaign protesting against it at https://reunifygally.wordpress.com/2009/01/10/protest-pity-sign-the-petition/ or by following the links at https://reunifygally.wordpress.com/bloggers-protesting-pity/
Consider signing the petition protesting the award at
http://www.petitiononline.com/jlno2009/petition.html You can significantly strengthen the impact of your petition signature by using the comments line to explain IN YOUR OWN WORDS why you object to the award. (Don’t let the tiny comments space in the petition fool you. You can actually fit in several full sentences, if you wish.)
And consider joining the Facebook group so you can learn about other ways to get involved: http://www.facebook.com/groups.php#/group.php?gid=40538392681
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Email Obama!
[PLEASE send your emails for Obama DIRECTLY to his administration. Or, you may prefer to communicate through the White House Office of Public Liaison, which is meant to facilitate communication between the Presidential administration and the public. Messages left here will NOT be passed along. Thank you.]
Politicians are known for making promises–to Deaf people and hearing people, and to people with disabilities and without disabilities. Sometimes they follow through and sometimes they don’t. What makes the difference? WE DO!
The new US President-elect Barack Obama has made some important promises to people with disabilities and Deaf people. These promises could be important both nationally (better employment and education and less discrimination) and internationally (signing the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities).
But will he follow through? That’s partly up to his own integrity. But that’s also up to all people with disabilities, our loved ones, colleagues, and other allies. Politicians are more quick to remember their promises if they know people are watching them. So let’s make sure Obama’s team knows we are watching him! EMAIL OBAMA!
Learn more about how YOU can help by taking just a few minutes to click through this power point program:
https://reunifygally.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/email-obama.ppt
Most importantly:
We should all send an email to Kareem Dale, Obama’s National Disability Vote Director (at kdale@barackobama.com), WITH COPIES TO Anne Hayes, a volunteer on the Obama Disability Policy Committee (at ahayesku@hotmail.com).
NOTE: Please note that this blog is NOT the place to leave messages for Obama. I am unable to pass along your messages to Obama’s team. Instead, PLEASE contact his team DIRECTLY. If you wish to contact them on non-disability related issues, please use the form at http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/. Or, you may prefer to contact the White House Office of Public Liaison at http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/opl/. If you wish to contact them on disability-related issues, then you may use the instructions given above. Thank you.
NOTE: As of December 23, 2008, I have now closed comments on this specific blog post. If you are trying to reach Obama’s administration, please contact them DIRECTLY as instructed repeatedly above.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 12 so far )Why Deaf Americans Should Vote Obama in 2008
Note that, of course, Deaf people would be affected by McCain-Palin disability policies just as much as Americans with disabilities generally. (See press release further below) This is one of a great many reasons (not all related to disability policy) that I will be voting for the Obama-Biden ticket this coming Tuesday.
Simply put, I trust Obama to be more attentive to Deaf rights and disability rights as a HUMAN RIGHTS issue–not just another code word for “welfare” or “charity” or so called “special needs.” From the primary stage onwards, Obama was the only leading candidate to have a comprehensively written disability platform that includes a strong endorsement of the Americans with Disability Act, and a clear commitment on Obama’s part to sign the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
Read this FAQ for more information about the CRPD. And you can read Obama’s disability platform in PDF format for yourself; it’s only 62 Kb, so even slow modems shouldn’t have too much trouble downloading it.
ADAWatch.org
National Coalition for Disability Rights
NEWS RELEASE
October 31, 2008
Disability Rights Organizations Express Outrage Over Attacks at McCain-Palin Rally
(Washington, DC) The National Coalition for Disability Rights (NCDR) pushed back today against the McCain-Palin campaign for ridiculing the legal rights of people with disabilities. News reports describe McCain-Palin campaign representative Senator Kit Bond (R-Mo), joining Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin at a rally in Rush Limbaugh’s hometown of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, mocking Presidential candidate Senator Barak Obama for stating that he’s looking to nominate judges who empathize with “the disabled.”
“It’s Halloween and it seems that Sarah Palin’s mask of support for people with “special needs” is slipping. Despite past pandering to people with disabilities, McCain-Palin are actually opposed to vital disability legislation like the Community Choice Act and they want to appoint judges who will further roll back the civil rights protections of the Americans with Disabilities Act,” declared NCDR’s founder and president, Jim Ward.
NPR’s Nina Totenberg has reported that McCain-Palin’s and conservatives’ “most oft-mentioned prospects” for nomination to the Supreme Court include Ohio Judge Jeffrey Sutton. Sutton was opposed by hundreds of disability organizations when he was nominated by President Bush after successfully weakening the ADA with states’ rights arguments. As a sitting judge, he has recently supported the execution of criminals with developmental disabilities and has undermined the Help America Vote Act(HAVA).
Disability rights advocates are further incensed that the McCain-Palin campaign has reframed this civil rights struggle, one founded in concepts of equality, dignity and self-respect, as an issue of “special needs.”
Disability rights advocate, Steve Gold states, “Yes we need support services. Yes we need inclusive education. Yes we need integrated employment. Yes we need equal rights. This not “special”. These needs are based on us, people with disabilities, equal members of our communities. We are not inspirational nor are we “special”. We are PROUD PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES who should push back when anyone describes us as anything but equal members of our communities.”
The National Coalition for Disability Rights is a nonpartisan nonprofit that does not endorse political candidates. We are a coalition of national, state and local disability, civil rights and social justice organizations united to protect and promote the human rights of children and adults with physical and mental disabilities.
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This press release was circulated via the ADA Watch email list.
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