As NPR reports today, the UN has finalized the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The General Assembly will vote on the Convention in January and will be submitted to member nations for ratification. As I’ve noted before, the US has no intention of signing the convention because it claims that we already have adequate disability rights legislation. I’m tempted to point out that a UN Convention would be a less likely target for decimation by a hostile judiciary, but that’s a topic for another blog entry. The US should ratify the Convention if for no other reason than to earn a few desperately needed karma points with the rest of the international community. This isn’t exactly a controversial document and I can’t imagine there would be much opposition to it in the Senate.
The UN might benefit from some disability awareness training, by the way. The last sentence in the UN’s official press release on the treaty reads, “It is estimated that 10 per cent of the world’s population, or about 650 million people, suffer from disabilities.” Tsk-tsk, UN. Would you also issue a statement declaring that half the world’s population suffers from being female?
Nick says it would be wrong to say that you ‘suffer’ from anything. He says you’re a pimp and have a better social life than he does.