Petition Closed

Please reverse your vote against the UN Disability Treaty!

There are an estimated 650,000,000 people in our world with disabilities of all types, including physical, developmental, sensory, and emotional impairments. Based on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) - which was signed into law by President George H. W. Bush in the United States in 1990, and has since successfully served to revolutionize the way the US supports its citizens with disabilities - the United Nations has developed the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Through the Convention, the UN strives to provide guidelines for nations around the world to also successfully support its citizens with disabilities in a multitude of areas, including accessibility standards, education, health care, and social services, among other things. The Convention's purpose is to strongly advocate for persons with disabilities to be considered as countries make decisions regarding their development.

On December 4, 2012, the United States Senate, with a vote of 61-38, fell five votes short of the two-thirds majority needed to ratify a treaty that would have supported the UN's Convention. A vote "for" the treaty would simply have lent a voice to this issue - an issue of which, up until now, the United States has been considered to be at the forefront. The UN based their entire Convention on what the United States created in the ADA, and yet, by a very small margin the Senate was unwilling to support its own country's largely successful initiative.

I urge you to please sign this petition to let our United States Senators know that you think the UN Convention is integral to the success of our global community as a whole. We are only as strong as our weakest link, which makes it even more important to find ways to better support persons with disabilities so that they can become strong, vibrant, productive, and self-sufficient members of their respective societies.

In addition, these are the Senators who voted against the treaty, thereby causing it to fail.  If you live in a state whose US Senator is listed below, I urge you to contact them directly to show your support for this very important cause.

Alexander (R-TN)
Blunt (R-MO)
Boozman (R-AR)
Burr (R-NC)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coats (R-IN)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
Enzi (R-WY)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Hatch (R-UT)
Heller (R-NV)
Hoeven (R-ND)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Isakson (R-GA)
Johanns (R-NE)
Johnson (R-WI)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Lee (R-UT)
McConnell (R-KY)
Moran (R-KS)
Paul (R-KY)
Portman (R-OH)
Risch (R-ID)
Roberts (R-KS)
Rubio (R-FL)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Thune (R-SD)
Toomey (R-PA)
Vitter (R-LA)
Wicker (R-MS)

Thank you for your support!

This petition was delivered to:
  • The United States Senate
