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Stevie Wonder Becomes UN Messenger of Peace

From the UN Information Center (12/2/09):

Stevie Wonder Becomes a UN Messenger of Peace

By Mark Leon Goldberg

Singer/songwriter legend Stevie Wonder is joining the United Nations as one of its 10 Messengers of Peace to lend his talents to this work. It is the latest move in a long career of writing, producing and performing songs to highlight challenges many children and adults face - from disabilities, to HIV/AIDS, cancer, diabetes, hunger, homelessness and domestic abuse.

"Our newest Messenger of Peace is someone who is admired by millions of people and has given back to millions of people," Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said ahead of Mr. Wonder's official designation at a news conference on Thursday.

Without the broader participation of people with disabilities in development initiatives, prospects are dim for reaching the Millennium Development Goals. If they can overcome the challenges that keep disproportionate numbers of people with disabilities - and their families - in poverty, the odds improve significantly, UN officials say.

"Persons with disabilities encounter many disadvantages," Secretary-General Ban added in a statement marking International Day of Persons With Disabilities. "They are often among the poorest and most excluded members of society. Yet they routinely show tremendous resilience, and achieve great heights in all spheres of human endeavor.

"Experience shows that when persons with disabilities are empowered to participate and lead the process of development, the entire community opens up," Secretary-General Ban added. "Their involvement creates opportunities for everyone - with or without a disability."

An estimated 650 million people have disabilities, or 10 percent of the world's population. In developing countries, they number 20 percent of people living in poverty.

To help integrate people with disabilities into their communities - and particularly into international development work -143 UN Member States, including the United States, have signed the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities...

The Convention aims to ensure that persons with disabilities enjoy human rights on an equal basis with others. It embraces the community-based rehabilitation approach now used in 90 countries to involve all people in development, equalize the opportunities available to people with disabilities, and address poverty at its roots. A UN Expert Group on Mainstreaming Disability issues offers more information about the "development for all" approach, and its importance to achieving the MDGs.
Among other UN initiatives:

• UN Enable, the main portal for information about issues that affect people with disabilities, offers one-stop information about all UN agencies' related work.

• A Special Rapporteur on Disability works to ensure the high-level focus that surrounded negotiations of the Convention, which culminated in May 2008, continues. Shuaib Chalklen, of South Africa, will work to advance the status of persons with disabilities and monitor the implementation of the Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities, adopted by the General Assembly in 1993.

• The World Program of Action concerning Disabled Persons, adopted by the General Assembly in 1982, emphasizes a human-rights approach and sets forth a global strategy to enhance disability prevention, rehabilitation and the equalization of opportunities to fully participate in social life and national development.

• The UN Voluntary Fund on Disability helps fund capacity-building initiatives for non-governmental organizations working to implement the Convention.

President Celebrates International Day of Persons with Disabilities

From the White House (12.3.09):

 

For Immediate Release

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES, 2009
- - - - - - -
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION

This year, in an effort to renew our global commitment to human rights and fundamental freedoms for persons with disabilities, the United States became a proud signatory of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This treaty represents a paradigm shift, urging equal protection and benefits for all citizens, and reaffirming the inherent dignity and independence of the 650 million people living with disabilities worldwide. Today, as we commemorate the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, we celebrate the skills, achievements, and contributions of persons with disabilities in America and around the world. We recognize the progress we have made toward equality for all, and we rededicate ourselves to ensuring individuals with disabilities can reach their greatest potential.

Despite our increased efforts, persons with disabilities continue to face barriers to their full participation in society. In the United States, Americans with disabilities still experience discrimination in the workplace and in their communities. In developing nations, 90 percent of children with disabilities do not attend school, and women and girls with disabilities are all too often subjected to deep discrimination. If we are to move forward as a people, both at home and abroad, all individuals must be fully integrated into our human family.

The International Day of Persons with Disabilities is a time to renew our commitment to the principles of empowerment, dignity, and equality. The United States has co-sponsored and joined consensus on the United Nations General Assembly Third Committee's resolution titled, "Realizing the Millennium Development Goals for Persons with Disabilities." We must continue to embrace diversity and reject discrimination in all its forms, and insist on equality of opportunity and accessibility for all. Let our efforts remind us that when we work together, we can build a world free of unnecessary barriers and include every member of our international community.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim December 3, 2009, as International Day of Persons with Disabilities. I call on all Americans to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies, activities, and programs.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this second day of December, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-fourth.

BARACK OBAMA

New Global Education Initiative Partners with World Cup 2010

From the Global Partnership for Disability and Development (12.3.09):

This International Day of Persons with Disabilities represents one of many efforts focused on the inclusion of all persons, including those with disabilities, to receive a quality education. Quality inclusive education is a human right, as proclaimed in Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and international cooperation is necessary to make this a reality.

A global campaign is now underway, coordinated by the Global Campaign for Education and backed by many within the disability movement, promoting a clear message: to provide education for the 75 million children out of school, as well as achieving the other EFA goals. With the partnership of FIFA, 1GOAL will use the platform of the World Cup 2010 in South Africa to promote mass public awareness and political will on EFA. 

To call attention to the need for MDG2 and the EFA goals to be inclusive, the African Decade of Persons with Disabilities, the Global Partnership for Disability and Development, Inclusion International, the International Disability and Development Consortium, and VSA arts have launched INITIATIVE24, a Global Campaign to Promote the Inclusion of Children with Disabilities in Education for All. INITIATIVE24 has four elements: Networks, Legal Resource, Policy Engagement/Advocacy and Public Education and Awareness.

 

We invite you today to let your voice be heard and to join us by adding your signature through the 1Goal Campaign website and by working through 1GOAL to promote the call for inclusive education. Please go to www.join1goal.org to sign up now. 

 

By signing on the 1Goal Campaign, you will add your voice along with FIFA, its international football stars, the football world, and countless others – individuals and organizations, educators, political figures, celebrities, artists– who have already given their voices to this awareness campaign. 

 

More information about 1GOAL and Initiative 24 is available outside the conference room 4 or by contacting the partners at initiative24@vsarts.org. 

 

 

ON DECEMBER 3

 

THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES

 

DO YOUR PART TO HELP CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES GO TO SCHOOL

 

 

 

1. Today, 75 million children around the world are denied access to school. One-third of these are children with disabilities. Unable to read or write, they face a lifetime of poverty.

 

2. Together, we can change this! Since 2000, with action and cooperation among governments, civil society, and donors, 40 million more children are now in school.

 

3. Education for All (EFA) will only happen if all children receive a quality education, including children with disabilities.

 

4. Delivering quality education needs more resources. Leaders of developing countries must spend 20% on education, abolish fees, provide professional teachers, and ensure children are in school, not at work. Leaders of developed countries must provide their fair share of funding, work together on a global response, invest in teachers, and include countries with the greatest need.

 

5. Respecting the United Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities means that investment in education must include children with disabilities and ensure that they receive the individualized support they need to fully participate.

 

6. The 2010 World Cup is a moment for us to shine – let’s leave a legacy of education. Global football stars, the football world, and its governing body, FIFA, are behind the 1GOAL campaign.

 

 

HOW YOU CAN HELP

 

Join 1Goal at www.join1goal.org

 

Send us a message calling for the inclusion of people with disabilities in education using the arts (picture, video, drawing, writing, etc) at initiative24@vsarts.org. Your artwork will be exhibited on an online gallery and included in future awareness campaigns.

 

 

Together let’s make sure that all children, including the 25 million children with disabilities out-of school, receive a quality education by 2015.

Chinese Delegation Meets with AAPD

Members of the China Disabled Persons' Federation Ask AAPD Staff about organizing the disability community.

From Jenifer Simpson (11/20/09):

AAPD Meets With Delegates from Chinese Disability Group

By Jenifer Simpson, Senior Director, Government Affairs AAPD

On November 19, AAPD staff met with a 21-member delegation from the China Disabled Persons' Federation (CDPF), who wanted to learn about AAPD activities. According to their website, CDPF is a unified organization for people of disabilities in China that promotes disabilities rights and issues and works to ensure equal social and economic status.  The delegation specifically wanted information on how we organize our community, about our technology policy initiative, our fundraising efforts, and our leadership development activities.  Experts estimate that the population of people with disabilities in China exceeds 60 million people.

 

Among the China Disabled Persons’ Federation were Mr. Zhang Dong Mei, Director, Department of Education and Employment, Division of Eradication of Poverty, Ms. Yu Xinyan, Deputy Director General, Department of Human Resources, and Mr. Yu Zejun, Vice Editor-in-Chief, China Braille Press. Most of the delegates were from Beijing and presented AAPD with gifts; these included pins from the Beijing 2008 Paralympics Games and ornaments “made by individuals with disabilities.”

 

More information on this federation at website http://www.cdpf.org.cn/english/

CDPF reports on services delivered to people with disabilities in China at

http://www.cdpf.org.cn/english/statistics/content/2008-04/10/content_84890.htm

1 in 10 People With Disabilities Have been Victims of a Hate Crime

From the Guardian (11/4/09):

Charity says 9% of disabled people have been victims of hate crime
Leonard Cheshire Disability included question on disability-related crime after high-profile incidents in which disabled people had been targeted
by Peter Walker

Almost one in 10 disabled people in the UK have been the victim of a hate crime, according to a leading disability charity.

For the first time, the 2009 version of an annual survey carried out by Leonard Cheshire Disability asked respondents whether they had faced a crime which they felt was motivated by their disability, with 9% saying they had.

"Even without a comparison for previous years, this is a shocking figure," said Eleanor Gore, from Leonard Cheshire, who compiled the review. "It's often hard to know how big a problem disability hate crime is as it tends to be very under-reported, and sometimes police and councils don't recognise it properly."

The charity said it had included the question after high-profile incidents in which disabled people had been targeted, notably the case of Fiona Pilkington and her 18-year-old daughter, Francecca. In September, an inquest jury criticised police and a council in Leicestershire for failing to help Pilkington after her family suffered years of abuse from gangs of youths. Pilkington killed herself and Francecca by setting the family car alight in a layby near their home...

>>>For the full article

AAPD Meets with Disability Representatives from Armenia

AAPD Meets with Disability Representatives from Armenia

Through a meeting sponsored by the League of Women Voters, AAPD met with Kamo Davtyan, Executive Director of Syunik Disabled People’s Support Coalition, “Voghji,” from the city of Kapan, the capital of Syunik province in southern Armenia. Mr. Davtyan was accompanied by another Voghji member, Ms. Meline Astsatryan, and several other people representing other non-profit organizations who are touring the U.S. to learn more about effective coalition-building. The Voghji disability coalition’s goals are to support the rights of people with disabilities, to facilitate their integration into society, to create employment opportunities and to propose and support legislative initiatives that support people with disabilities. Mr. Davtyan noted that there are about 600,000 people with disabilities in Armenia, or 20% of Armenia’s 3 million population.

Davtyan, who is disabled, leads the organization which currently has two paid employees and 20 unpaid volunteers and is entirely funded by the business community. One recent achievement is a decree enacted by the mayor that states "no new construction will be approved in Kapan if it does not include plans for ramps for the disabled." The challenge for Davtyan's group is to ensure that this decree is properly enforced. Another plan is to refurbish an old house as a center for people with disabilities, or one stop shop for services, information, and other activities. Other plans include obtaining a car to travel from village to village and acquiring technical support on issues relating to legislation and best practices. There is also a legislative effort underway to have a governmental decree issued for disability civil rights.

Information on Armenia at http://www.lwv.org/Content/ContentGroups/PressReleases/2008/ArmeniainBrief.pdf

More on Kapan, Armenia, home to disability coalition Voghji, at http://travel.mapsofworld.com/armenia/tourist-destinations-in-armenia/kapan-armenia.html

More on the League of Women Voters coalition-building activity in Armenia at http://www.lwv.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=13947

Story  by  Jenifer Simpson, Senior Director, Government Affairs & Technology Initiatives, American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD)
Washington, DC USA  Email JSimpson@aapd.com

Just In: AAPD Joins Facebook Causes

From the JFA Moderator:

AAPD recently joined Facebook Causes as a way to get the word out about the disability rights movement and to make it easier for YOU, our dedicated activists, to contribute your support.

Take Action TODAY: Join or Donate to AAPD's Cause on Facebook and share these links with your friends.

>>> To Join the Movement

>>> To Support our Work

US Signs UN CRPD

From Reuters (7/30/09):

U.S. signs U.N. disabilities pact, in change of course

By Patrick Worsnip

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States signed a U.N. convention on Thursday aimed at ensuring equal rights for the world's 650 million disabled people, a pact that the former Bush administration refused to endorse.

In a ceremony at U.N. headquarters, U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice inked the pact, billed by the United Nations as the first human rights treaty of the 21st century. It came into force last year.

The 32-page U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities outlaws all forms of discrimination at work on the basis of disability, including in hiring, promotion and working conditions. It requires equal pay for work of equal value.

It also calls on signatory states to promote the employment of disabled people, including through "affirmative action" programs that favor them.

The pact stipulates the disabled may not be excluded from mainstream education systems. It demands that governments provide them with physical access to transportation, schools, housing, medical facilities and workplaces.

Bush administration officials had said the document was weaker than the 1990 U.S. Americans with Disabilities Act and therefore could complicate enforcement of that law.

But Rice said the United States was "very pleased to join 141 other countries that have signed this convention in pursuit of a more just world." Sixty-one countries have ratified the pact.

President Barack Obama would soon submit the convention for Senate approval, Rice said at the ceremony attended by representatives of U.S. disability groups.

Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to Obama, told the gathering the signing was a "historic step toward advancing our global commitment to the fundamental human rights for all persons with disabilities."

She also announced the creation of a senior-level position at the State Department to develop a strategy to promote the rights of disabled people around the world.

The signing underlined the more favorable attitude toward the United Nations of the Obama administration than that of its predecessor, which often criticized the world body and was leery of international treaties that could have an impact on U.S. law.

Human Rights Watch, one of several advocacy groups that welcomed the signing, said the United States had signed six out of nine core international human rights treaties but ratified only three -- on racial discrimination, civil and political rights, and torture.

Jamil Dakwar of the American Civil Liberties Union said that Thursday was "a great day for the rights of people with disabilities and a step forward for the U.S. human rights movement."

It's Official: US Signs UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

From the ACLU:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 30, 2009  3:51 PM

US Signs International Treaty on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities
Move Is Critical to Reassuming Leadership on Human Rights, Says ACLU

NEW YORK - July 30 - The United States today signed the most comprehensive international treaty on the rights of persons with disabilities in history. Susan Rice, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, signed the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) at the organization's headquarters in New York City. If ratified by the Senate, the CRPD will be the fourth major human rights treaty ever adopted by the U.S. and the first it has adopted in the 21st century. The American Civil Liberties Union welcomes this important step by the Obama administration to reengage the U.S. in international human rights efforts.

"This is a great day for the rights of people with disabilities and a step forward for the U.S. human rights movement," said Jamil Dakwar, Director of the ACLU Human Rights Program. "By signing the CRPD, the U.S. will reassume a leading role in the promotion and stewardship of human rights at home and abroad."

The CRPD, signed by 140 nations since May 2008, has significant overlap with the Americans with Disabilities Act and the other U.S. laws protecting disability rights. In addition, it provides a holistic and inclusive approach to defining disability, recognizes past discrimination in addressing problems individuals with disabilities encounter in society and includes specific articles related to the rights of women and children with disabilities. Under the CRPD, ratifying countries are obligated to prevent discrimination against, promote accessibility for and work to achieve the full realization of economic, social and cultural rights for persons with disabilities.

"If adopted by the United States, the CRPD will inspire a more vigorous and comprehensive approach in the U.S. to addressing the myriad injustices still suffered by persons with disabilities," said James Felakos, a Disability Rights Fellow with the ACLU. "We look forward to the Senate's ratification of the CRPD."

During his campaign, then-Senator Obama promised that he would sign the CRPD. The Bush administration chose not to sign the Convention, even after participating in the negotiating sessions that led to its drafting. Under the U.S. Constitution, after the Senate gives its advice and consent to ratification, a treaty becomes law.

The U.S. has also signed but has yet to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, two major human rights treaties that have significantly contributed to the protection and promotion of the rights of women and children worldwide.

An essay by Felakos on the CRPD is available online at: www.udhr60.org/enabling_everyone.pdf 

Information about the ACLU's work on the rights of persons with disabilities is available at: www.aclu.org/disability/index.html

Obama Speaks of Promise of the ADA

Below are the full remarks of President Obama as he announced the US's intention to sign the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities Friday, July 24 in commemoration of the Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

You can watch the President's speech on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1qmAGEIAs4 . Unfortunately, this version of the video is not captioned.  If anyone is aware of a captioned version please let me know.

From the White House (7/24/09):

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT ON
SIGNING OF U.N. CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES PROCLAMATION

East Room

5:58 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  Please, everybody be seated.  Thank you.  First of all, how about my Secretary of State?  (Applause.)  Give it up for Senator Hillary Clinton.  She is doing an unbelievable job.  She's traveling all around the world delivering a message that America is back and ready to lead.  And everywhere she goes she is representing us with grace and strength and we are very fortunate to have her.

I'm also lucky to have an outstanding Attorney General in Eric Holder -- (applause) -- so I wanted to make sure that we thank him for being here.  My Secretary of Labor, who is committed to these issues, Hilda Solis.  (Applause.)  We've got a couple of governors in the house, at least I see one of them over here, Governor David Paterson of New York.  (Applause.)  And I think that Christine Gregoire was here -- there she is, right here -- from Washington State.  (Applause.)

I want to thank the outstanding members of Congress who are on the stage.  Senator Dan Inouye, Representative Steny Hoyer, Representative Robert Andrews, Representative James Sensenbrenner, Representative Jim Langdon.  Thank you so much.  Please give them a big round of applause.  (Applause.)

And not on the stage, but extraordinarily important are three key figures who helped to get the original ADA passed.  I want to acknowledge them.  First of all, not able to attend, but this guy is a fierce warrior on behalf of the disabilities community, Tom Harkin.  (Applause.)  He couldn't be here, but give him a round of applause.  (Applause.)  Another person who could not be here but was instrumental in guiding the passage of this landmark legislation, Bob Dole, but his wonderful partner, Elizabeth Dole, Senator Elizabeth Dole is here, so please give her a round of applause on behalf of Bob Dole.  (Applause.)  And Attorney General and somebody who worked very hard on this issue, Richard Thornburgh.  Please give him a big round of applause.  (Applause.)  Where's Richard?  There he is.

Well, welcome to the White House.  We are thrilled to have you all here for an historic announcement regarding our global commitment to fundamental human rights for persons with disabilities.  I'm also honored to mark the anniversary of a historic piece of civil rights legislation with so many of the people who helped make it possible, and I'd like to reflect on that for a few moments.

I'm reminded today of my father-in-law -- some of you have heard his story -- Fraser Robinson.  He was Michelle's hero -- when you talk to her about her dad even today she just lights up.  He was a vibrant and athletic man who provided for his family as a shift worker at a water treatment plant in Chicago.  And in his early 30s, he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.  And even as it progressed, even as he struggled to get dressed in the morning and used two canes to get himself to work every day, despite the fact that he had to wake up a little bit earlier and work a little harder to overcome the barriers he faced every day -- he never complained.  He never asked for special treatment.  He just wanted to be given the opportunity to do right by his family.  Never missed a day of work.  Would have trouble buttoning his own shirts, but he would make sure that he woke up in time to do it.

And by the time I met him he would struggle with those two canes, but even if he had to go over a bumpy patch of grass to watch his son's ball games or go up a flight of stairs so that he could see his daughter dance, he would do it.  This was before the ADA passed.  And I think about him all the time when I think about these issues. 

It's a reminder of the very promise of the ADA.  Nineteen years ago this weekend, Democrats and Republicans, advocates and ordinary Americans, came together here at the White House to watch President George H.W. Bush sign the ADA into law.  Folks traveled from all across America to witness a milestone in the long march to achieve equal opportunity for all.

But like all great movements, this one did not begin or end in Washington, D.C.  It began in small towns and big cities across this country.  It began with people like Fraser Robinson showing that they can be full contributors to society regardless of the lack of awareness of others.  It began when people refused to accept a second-class status in America.  It began when they not only refused to accept the way the world saw them, but also the way they had seen themselves.

And when quiet acts of persistence and perseverance were coupled with vocal acts of advocacy, a movement grew, and people marched and organized and testified.  And parents of children with disabilities asked why their children, who had the same hopes and dreams as children everywhere else, were left out and left behind.  And wounded veterans came home from war only to find that, despite their sacrifice for America, they now felt excluded from America's promise.

We had a little meeting before we came out and Tony Coelho, who was instrumental on this issue, spoke in just incredibly moving terms about what it meant for him to be an epileptic and the fact that discrimination was rife -- he was rejected from the priesthood because that was considered unacceptable; he was rejected from the Army because that was considered unacceptable.

Those experiences could have just been internalized and people could have felt doubt, but instead it became a source of strength.  And step by step, progress was won.  Laws were changed.  Americans with disabilities were finally guaranteed the right to vote -- a right that only carries real meaning when you can enter the voting booth to cast that vote.  Folks were extended certain protections from discrimination, and given the needed rehabilitation and training to go to the job.  And even though we still have a long way to go with regard to education, children with disabilities were no longer excluded, no longer kept separate, and then no longer denied the opportunity to learn the same skills in the same classroom as other children.

Now, even two decades ago, too many barriers still stood.  Too many Americans suffered under segregation and discrimination.  Americans with disabilities were still measured by what folks thought they couldn't do -- not by what can.  Employers often assumed disabled meant unable.  Millions of Americans with disabilities were eager to work, but couldn't find a job.  An employer could have told a person with a disability, "No, we don't hire your kind."  That person then could have tried to find recourse at the courthouse, only to find that she couldn't enter the building -- and wouldn't find a receptive audience even if she did.

What was needed was a bill of rights for persons with disabilities, and that's what the ADA was.  It was a formal acknowledgment that Americans with disabilities are Americans first, and they are entitled to the same rights and freedoms as everybody else:  a right to belong and participate fully in the American experience; a right to dignity and respect in the workplace and beyond; the freedom to make of our lives what we will.

In a time when so many doubted that people with disabilities could participate in our society, contribute to our economy, or support their families, the ADA assumed they could.  Americans with disabilities didn't ask for charity or demand special treatment -- they only wanted a fair shot at opportunity.  They didn't want to be isolated, they wanted to be integrated; not dependent, but independent.  And allowing all Americans to engage in our society and our economy is in our national interest, especially now, when we all have a part to play to build a new foundation for America's lasting prosperity.

So the ADA showed the world our full commitment to the rights of people with disabilities -- and now we have an opportunity to live up to that commitment.  Today, 650 million people –- 10 percent of the world's population -- live with a disability.  In developing countries, 90 percent of children with disabilities don't attend school.  Women and girls with disabilities are too often subject to deep discrimination.

Disability rights aren't just civil rights to be enforced here at home; they're universal rights to be recognized and promoted around the world.  And that's why I'm proud to announce that next week, the United States of America will join 140 other nations in signing the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities -- (applause) -- the first new human rights convention of the 21st century.

This extraordinary treaty calls on all nations to guarantee rights like those afforded under the ADA.  It urges equal protection and equal benefits before the law for all citizens; reaffirms the inherent dignity and worth and independence of all persons with disabilities worldwide.  I've instructed Ambassador Susan Rice to formally sign the Convention at the United Nations in New York next week, and I hope that the Senate can give swift consideration and approval to the Convention once I submit it for their advice and consent.

And even as we extend our commitment to persons for -- with disabilities around the world, we're working to deepen that commitment here at home.  We've lifted the ban on stem cell research.  We've reauthorized the Children's Health Insurance Program, continuing coverage for 7 million children and covering an additional 4 million children in need, including children with disabilities.  I was proud to sign the landmark Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Act, the first piece of comprehensive legislation specifically aimed at addressing the challenges that are faced by Americans living with paralysis.

We've nearly doubled funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.  (Applause.)  We're strengthening anti-discrimination enforcement at the Justice Department.  We're creating a new special assistant position at the Department of Transportation just to focus on accessible transportation.  (Applause.)  We've launched the "Year of Community Living" to affirm the fundamental right of people with disabilities to live with dignity and respect wherever they choose.  (Applause.)

So I'm proud of the progress we've made.  But I'm not satisfied, and I know you aren't either.  Until every American with a disability can learn in their local public school in the manner best for them, until they can apply for a job without fear of discrimination, and live and work independently in their communities if that's what they choose, we've got more work to do.  As long as we as a people still too easily succumb to casual discrimination or fear of the unfamiliar, we've still got more work to do.

As we continue that work, we should remember just who it was that the ADA was all about.  It was about the young girl with cerebral palsy who just wanted to see a movie at her local theater, but was turned away.  It was about the Vietnam veteran who returned home paralyzed and said he felt like he'd fought for everyone but himself.  It was about the thousands of people with disabilities who showed up at public hearings all across the country to share their stories of exclusion and injustice -- and the millions more they spoke up for.

Because they did, we live in a country where our children can grow up with every opportunity to learn and compete, where our disabled veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan can navigate public places more easily, and where 54 million Americans with disabilities can pursue their full measure of happiness.  And what we've learned -- what we've -- what they have taught us is that it is far more noble and worthwhile and valuable to make it possible for these Americans to live up to their full potential.  Because when we do, it makes all of us more whole, it makes our union more perfect, it makes the United States of America strong.

Every morning, I walk along the Colonnade that connects this house to the Oval Office.  And there's something you might not notice unless you're really paying attention -- and I'll be honest, when I take that walk, I usually have a lot on my mind.  (Laughter.)  But there's a gentle slope at the end of that Colonnade, a ramp that was installed during a renovation of the West Wing 75 years ago, making it much easier for one of my predecessors to get to work.
 
Back then, fear and prejudice towards Americans with disabilities was the norm, but most Americans didn't even know that President Roosevelt had a disability.  That means that what most Americans also didn't know was that President Roosevelt's disability made absolutely no difference to his ability to renew our confidence, or rescue our economy, and mobilize our greatest generation to save our way of life.

Let me correct that -- I actually think it did make a difference in a positive way.   What he told us was that "further progress must of necessity depend on a deeper understanding on the part of every man and woman in the United States."  I believe we're getting there.  And today, because more than one in five Americans live with a disability -- and chances are, the rest of us love somebody with one -- we remember our obligation to ensuring their every chance to pursue the American Dream.  We celebrate the courage and commitment of those who brought us to this point.  And we recommit ourselves to building a world free of unnecessary barriers and full of that deeper understanding. 

So thank you, all, for being here.  Let's sign this bill.  (Applause.)

(The proclamation is signed.)

THE PRESIDENT:  There the go.  (Applause.)  Thank you, everybody.

       END                      6:15 P.M. ED