[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Page 13323]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        DISABILITIES CONVENTION

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, the Disabilities Convention enjoys strong 
bipartisan support in the Senate, with Senators McCain, Durbin, Kerry, 
Barrasso, Coons, Tom Udall, Moran, and Harkin leading the charge to 
ratify the Convention. With their help, I hope we will be able to move 
this treaty forward in the future.
  Twenty-two years ago, Congress passed the Americans with Disabilities 
Act to lift the barriers Americans with disabilities faced in everyday 
life. And ever since the passage of that law, the United States has 
been a leader in expanding disability rights across the globe.
  We have led, other countries have followed, and persons with 
disabilities have found ever greater opportunities to succeed. Now we 
are presented with an opportunity to strengthen our leadership on 
disability rights around the world by joining the Convention on the 
Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
  This convention is another step towards ensuring that all people with 
a disability, in any country, are treated with dignity and given the 
right to achieve to their full potential.
  Let me read part of a recent statement to the Foreign Relations 
Committee from one of my esteemed predecessors, former Senate Majority 
Leader Bob Dole, recipient of two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star for 
heroic achievement, who was wounded fighting for our country in World 
War II.

       U.S. ratification of the [Convention] will improve 
     physical, technological and communication access outside the 
     U.S., thereby helping to ensure that Americans--particularly, 
     many thousands of disabled American veterans--have equal 
     opportunities to live, work, and travel abroad. . . . An 
     active U.S. presence in implementation of global disability 
     rights will promote the market for devices such as 
     wheelchairs, smart phones, and other new technologies 
     engineered, made, and sold by U.S. corporations.

  This convention will help U.S. citizens and veterans abroad, and U.S. 
businesses here at home. And it won't cost us anything. It won't 
require any changes to existing U.S. law and or new contributions to 
the United Nations.
  As we watch the Olympics this week and admire the incredible feats of 
all of the athletes, we are reminded of what each of us can achieve.
  Just look at Oscar Pistorius from South Africa--also known as the--
``Blade Runner,'' who this Saturday will run the 400-meter sprint in 
the Olympics on carbon-fiber legs.
  Or watch Jessica Long, an American gold-medal bilateral amputee 
swimmer, participate in her third Paralympics Games at the age of 20.
  This convention will help make the path smoother for Olympians such 
as Oscar and Jessica.
  It has the support of veterans group and disability groups from 
around the Nation. It has the strong backing of a bipartisan group of 
Senators as well as leading Republicans such as President George H.W. 
Bush and Senator Dole.
  Just like passing the Americans with Disabilities Act, ratifying this 
Convention is, quite simply, the right thing to do.

                          ____________________