Disability Rights: The Evolution of Equality

the university of kansas and the law institute of politics awarded its prestigious leadership rise today i'm kate mcintyre and today on kbr presents an issue near and dear to senator bob dole the rights and opportunities of the disabled adult leadership prize was given earlier today to john kamm he's the president and ceo of the vista party center and nonprofit organization in new york that provides a wide range of services to educate employ and empower people with disabilities according to the bacardi center's website john can use as his own life with a disability to inspire others to achieve the impossible true knowledge experience personality and persistence if that twelve year for the dole leadership prize awarded annually to a person or group whose public service and leadership inspires others in two thousand twelve the wounded warrior project one that the leadership prize for its work with disabled veterans cemetery built commitment to

disability rights dates back to his own injury inflicted during world war two although senator dole has slowed down significantly these past few years his work on behalf of the disabled continued into two thousand fourteen he returned to capitol hill earlier this year to once again urge the us senate and especially his fellow republicans to ratify an international treaty on disability right it's an uphill fight we really were and for the recent quarter her career ratification but i well thanks for all of her of the members of the senate for of their work lives in the loans calling on their calling

laura lorson we think of the good treaty necessary disability community is not large boats in port and as a republican not all seattle on saying republicans voted against for disabled americans and disabled veterans and this is a bipartisan plan should be a part of them they're there senator bob dole of hearing at a press conference earlier this year with arizona senator john mccain and a number of other people pushing for senate ratification of the un treaty on the rights of the

disabled persons the un treaty is back in the news earlier this month many disability leaders expressed outrage that the senate has failed to take up the treaty in this congress more than eight hundred groups supported stratification including the us international council on disabilities david morrissey is the council's executive director he spoke with dog institute director bill lacy in october of two thousand thirty thank you for coming out of the fabulous crowd tonight we really appreciate your support network people around probably no you're no but about yet that some people probably don't so spend a few mamas talk about your personal background education how you're raised and how you decided to get into being an advocate for the disabled chair banks will face for me think you're ready for coming out tonight it's really about old home week you know it's a chance for me to be back in my home state can send

a born and bred i was born in topeka iron and was raised there i lived in lawrence kansas for many years of my life as well as the community of over kansas and i work here in lawrence for the united way of douglas county from douglas county aids project i volunteered and served on the board of independents saying our center for independent living here in lawrence community and so that being here even though it's just for a few days this week has been a great opportunity to see some old friends and colleagues that really launched me on my career in public service it was after college that's how i got into working in the nonprofit sector here in lawrence and after polio of seven years in that differ projects have the upper tunisia go to graduate school and it was the first time in my life that i relocated out of kansas and i with my partner jeff kirk and all two of us up bravely left kansas and moved to little rock arkansas

the opportunity of the oakland school of public service and the scholarship that night enabled me to pursue a masters in public service now during that curriculum was when i spent four months living in the fortune in seaside on vietnam now working with disability groups on the ground in the country and it was that experience that really gave me the bug to work in international disability issues that has me doing this work today what's on the more amazing stories or experiences you had when you were in vietnam or in arkansas that just they just convince youth has to come out this is gonna be your question yeah you know i always having and the procedures are having been born with a birth defect for that and having family members to it in their own work been so closely involved with the disability community and they in so many ways aside from my own personal experience inspired me to pursue a life of

service to the disability community that it was in arkansas that i was working with a greater focus more in the developmental disability community and that community is probably still where so much of my heart is and it was the expertise that i developed a graduate school at and work in public policy around disability that enabled me to take that next career step in and moved to washington dc to work on developmental disability policy at the national level but i think it was these mentors along the way who have devoted their lives in service to a community of citizens who are often a marginalized are often excluded from full participation that empowered me you're inspired me to why couldn't my life to that war in vietnam the marginalization of people of disabilities is beyond our

friends who have intellectual disabilities it it was you know i saw that more impactful two people mobility impairments or to the deaf community and so every country is at their own place now and moving forward to build the society of equality and one that tears down barriers and be a nun isn't a really exciting place in their own journey toward building exercise will get what submission you work now for the us international council on disabilities what's the mission of the organization and what is your role in the organization an executive director and our mission is to engage the american disability community with the global disability we serve as the united states' member international organization called disabled people's international the pri every country i hope one day will have a deeply i community it's one that is led by people with disabilities are staffed by people with disabilities and is working to be an advocacy

force in moving their country forward toward greater inclusion ending discrimination and generally working toward that ideal of a fully inclusive society are we also carry a positive status at the united nations and i can provide the opportunity to make sure that people with disabilities are at the table as the world the world table brings governments together we need to make sure that a civil society voices are at the table to and that's not just people with disabilities as our families or caregivers and all the folks who together again building that includes global society talk a little bit more directly to what you do what is executive director what your responsibilities what is you probably don't have an average day that would injure someone average day look like well it's it's a bizarre organization really isn't some as a policy shop in washington and so we have great colleagues who are more focused on the ground development work in

countries around the world and we try to be a resource to help the development sector think more about disability not programs that are specifically for people with disabilities that mainstream prayers education health program smaller programs however we make sure that vulnerable populations or not be excluded and left out from these important initiatives and i think that for you the american taxpayer to now that your tax dollars when they are being spent overseas are being spent in a way that up unless people with disabilities and there's a further marginalize those who are up frankly in these situations in a situation of poverty being denied education i think it's a concern to us all that the work of our government overseas is as good work and so that i have to see that we gage in there never is a typical day but there's always an opportunity to stand out and to be an advocate

that's the good stuff of it and the yelp there's also the administration when you're an executive director at we're small organization so one minute my head's in the books looking at the budget and say howard and i get this work done or i'm not trying to entice funders to believe in our vision and to help us get that work done then it's an honor to get to do the work the great thank you all give us some history only evolution of attitudes in this country about this bill ortiz well in china's getting worse or ten years you know and i have benefited in my career for un by now and chairs and policyholders those advocates who blazed a trail for disability inclusion you know a german named ed roberts was told he couldn't go to college because he was in an iron lung and he said no there's no reason that i should be able to pursue my education to the next level and he how broke down that barrier and

while uc berkeley became a because his work and work for others the a real spark in the american in our country to think about disability in a new way i think about their capacities and talents of individuals that sometimes with just sport or treat infrastructure anyone can pursue their dreams and certainly not everyone can learn and so the opportunity to pursue education is our record too so for felony opportunity to be the best we can be there civil movement really picked up in the civil rights movement a social justice model that empower people with disabilities to starting with i think some profound moments included the rehabilitation act that said that a persons with

disabilities should have full access to federally funded programs to the individuals with disabilities education act that really changed the way we think about the inclusive classroom students with disabilities can learn with their peers who do not have a disability and that enriches the classroom to have different learners with different talents together learning together that's really what our society is so these key moments in american policymaking certainly a key moment as the americans with disabilities act now twenty three years old i will be at solving the twenty fifth anniversary in two thousand fifteen i it's many of those advocates that maybe at a half and that's our my mentors today that are working day and night to bring us to now the next step out which is set to join the global treaty on the rights of persons with disabilities then what's going to that

then now all you know that's been your big effort senate ratification of the convention on the rights of persons with disabilities or crp be easy and thin and wise seer p be important what would it accomplish reality in nineteen ninety when da da was passed the world community really took notice of this this was a pioneering concept that we've enshrined in law that citizens with disabilities were equal citizens it's that discrimination against disabled says this could not stand and that it was a role for society to tear down those barriers out that sparked a global movement and we saw other countries around the world take their own approach to embrace a disability rights and as we saw a different countries move forward in their own unique way of the idea of a global standard around disability rights really emerged and it

was in two thousand that the united nations launched a tree drafting process that would create the global standard the process itself was life changing world changing because it wasn't a handful of international lawyers turned back back office drafting a treaty together and coming out in unveiling at saying look at this wonderful tree you crafted but rather it was an inclusive process that set a big table at the un that made sure that people with disabilities were at the table that governments stance not just their ambassadors of persons with disabilities as official government telling it's to this process so it reinforced and really created at volume around the global slogan nothing about us without us that said if there's going to be a treaty about my rights i'm going to be at the table

oh my organization that represents maine's going to be at that table and it really has changed the world today over a hundred and fifty countries have signed the treaty and we're seeing impacts daily basis countries are now using the disability treaty as a guide start to develop their own legislation to make this vision real home and i want to see my country at the table with these countries to help share the knowledge we've developed more than twenty years after the aba and even more years from some other pieces and of lawn or just a regular practice in town states and iran this country we have a lot to share and so i think it's important that we i think there's other great cases for why the us should be at the table certainly the business sector is increasingly interested that a great technologies that serve people

with disability that's a new market in the global community and i think the companies i get it and then at and t and others who support ratification treaty see that by our country coming to the table and affirming this global standard were showing we speak the same language our products serve the same end and that it's in are corporations interest to have access to those global markets we're not at the table we know that other countries who are quickly developing technologies themselves are going to feel them are and so we have an opportunity to get there and for students with disabilities who want to travel the world study abroad those doors have been closed to students for many years because the world has been inaccessible and the us can help build inaccessible world by being at the table with countries share your knowledge and sending our students abroad to make it real i'll i think that's one of the reasons that the american veteran community has really embraced this issue now inspired by

senator dole that today's veteran critic of this new generation of young vet as an expectation that the excess of the world they grew up and is not just here it's out there too and they don't want to be limited in they're pursuing their education groups pursuing out career opportunities to take advancement in companies that when i send them abroad that won't be deterred just because that employee uses a wheelchair this is an exciting opportunity as the world is moving forward for us to be involved in how would you characterize the impact of crp beyond federal and state wall inside the united states and europe are so i was it was just me i never as the sisters of disability around the united states and around the world were so excited when president obama fulfilled his campaign pledge that we would sign the treaty and the us became a signatory into thousand nine other president

had his administration do a multi year study of other trees looking at what's the vision of the treaty and where's us law and is there a gap between the two and how we close the in order to come on board as a wrap party in the standard us street practices that we don't ratify a treaty unless where are they are perceived and they're deemed in full compliance and we we're so pleased last year in two thousand twelve after a three year process the administration's a package to the us senate where a supermajority vote is required to successfully ran by and it was a package that required no new costs and no changes to us law the administration proposed a series of amendments to the treaty of reservations understandings and declarations that

laid out things like our federal system of government are some areas of disability are at the state level in terms of laws than the federal laws and when the united states ratifies a treaty we aren't making that commitment at the federal level and the state is not yet fully in compliance with the treaty the federal government work with those states to realize a vision of the treaty in amber come into compliance not the international community and are facing directly with states and so this package that is before the senate is a very sound practice that has followed i know how many years of standard us treaty practice that protects our sovereignty doesn't seed our lawmaking authority to foreign governments it's one in which we are in compliance with mormons have new costs low as a result and yet the opportunities that i was just describing to be a world leader on this issue i think are significant

so i don't want to work here now but as i can understand the way you're explaining it but it's not gonna really change that much in the us but it puts us at the table and makes us a leader on disability around the world that appear i think there is that the opportunity to be influential in the world is a change for americans with disabilities who again want to have that opportunity to be out in the world you know the us is still making the vision of the ad a real hear a tall twenty three years pass the aba are employment rates for people with disabilities are still not great there twice the unemployment rate for citizens with disabilities and so we still are evolving ourselves here at home and we're doing that under our domestic legal framework the treaty can become a neutral and advocates toolkit says

we work to advocate for better policies for more inclusive society even here at home it's a real it's a real true because it's a real vision that no it's not going to force those changes that what happened the trees going up for a vote once so it was last minute that package was submitted to the us senate because it says a treaty it lands in the senate foreign relations committee last summer we had a very good a hearing in which senators from both parties really stood up for this issue right thing to do and it was a robust process that really examined all the issues so that ultimately the committee was able to pass a resolution for ratification they have bipartisanship that then had momentum to move on the center

that was in july i just after the anniversary of the americans with disabilities act with that package passed it wasn't until december that we had a vote in the senate and we got close but we didn't hit the mark we missed the supermajority by five votes and it was immediately after that loss that's great figures like john mccain richard durbin tom harkin and other members of the senate said don't give up we can get this done this is the right thing to do and we're going to bring it back and so on while the loss was disappointing we have tried to make the most of it by certainly we got great media coverage that day senator dole attended the vote with his wife elizabeth and that was that spark more media than we ever got in the run up to the vote

it also helped expand the coalition at that time our coalition for adaptation was about three hundred and fifty disability organizations today it's over seven hundred disability organizations from the local state and national level we have the us chamber of commerce on board last year now it's not just the chamber but it's corporations are saying this is good for this is the onboard the veteran community of has been silent are out and so please we have so many multiple generations standing in for this issue from the vfw in the american legion to the student veterans of america on the wounded warrior project and so it's been it was tough to have that loss but it's one that has a steel us and brought us together or not critics have argued a point that you made a few minutes

ago that it would impinge on your sovereignty and they referred to specific language within the convention that says what's in the convention over rules and us law that doesn't concern you well again i was referring to a standard us treaty practice in i think that the treaty itself is following on standard international treaty language and countries do not see their sovereignty when they make the choice to ratify they're making a commitment to implement the treaty and make it real at home and for so many countries around the world they don't have a history of civil rights legislation like the aba that now they're ratifying and they're using the treaty is a guide start to develop that for the us because we have the eighty eight other pieces of the law were already in that pieces in that posture of being in full compliance the i think there is a political perspective in the united states that doesn't like

international agreements and that doesn't like these multilateral treaties or international human rights standards were frankly anything that the un has been a pa and it may be that no i'm safe package will give comfort to that political perspective i think that its exhibits minority perspective i think there was just a recent poll that great numbers of americans from both parties are democrats and republicans i'll believe that the us engagement in the un is the right thing to do with you it should be at the table this wasn't about the disability to this was about the idea global engagement in collaboration with our neighbors around the world through the un systems but it's important to note that this treaty in no way empowers the un to take on new rules have new powers that were in it doesn't really

this is a treaty that empowers people with disabilities it's a tree that calls on countries to engage their disabled citizens and to bring that to the table again that spirit of nothing about us without us there have been individuals who are here and i learn more about the treaty and the effort and participate in the effort to support think you know so i think a disability treaty don't know archie is a great web site that has a lot of information about the treaty and hopefully before the week is done we'll have launched a new citizen action portal on that web address that allows the visitor to with one click send a letter to senator or tweet them a message of support of the treaty or make that call to shelters office also on the web site we have a lot of fact sheets and other material about the tree that state's the case and lays out those questions that our opponents have good answers those questions so that i want to

see a process in the senate when we do get moving again i think that's going to happen soon i'm there is a process that shines a while it on the fine print so that no one was left scratching their heads about one is the commitment that the us is joining hundred and thirty eight other countries around the world have made this commitment to ratify arms so that we're all in it together and arm after the tree what is your next big challenge for us i see i see it i think that once we have ratified the treaty we have an opportunity to present a nongovernmental organization too do that work of engaging americans with disabilities and our allies in global solidarity with disability communities around the world and deeply interested in that your regionally i think but with the caribbean nations we have a real opportunity

to come together and talk about a building societies other disability inclusive globally i think that it's a it's an exciting time for us to take this statue i hope to see more students with disabilities applying for those study abroad opportunities and to see more internationalist with disabilities trying to come to the united states and when we were doing we are hosting a young woman from macedonia now office right now who he came to the us to look at what are the systems that need to be in place and supports independence because its time those systems are not fully in place in our country so she's been interviewing other transportation practitioners people manage the system's train systems up and advocates for better systems so that she can take a college she's gotten here in the us back to macedonia and be a strong advocate and so honestly us

support her ok what we'd you say tonight to students you're here with disabilities are students who don't have disabilities about how they can come fall in your footsteps in the footsteps of other people who are trying to make a difference what what advice would you give i'm looking back at me well i want to give a shout out to be able hawks i had dinner with him last night they're an awesome student group here in the cave campus who are doing amazing martin one campaign that they've taken on is for a new wheelchair accessible entrance on strong hall dionne jr boulevards there's a wheelchair entrance out on the back of the building you go by the trash cans and through potholes and the puddles and they believed that it's not sending a message an inclusive community on campus and one that really doesn't support the dignity of a

student with disability and they're worth that dignity and i want to see them successful in their campaign so that's an appeal to the administration here university hosted me in such a kind way to listen to the students of a loch ness so i don't know that i'd need to give them any advice there still are leaders among the greats pat themselves i will say that you know as you embark on a career in public service whether you're working in government or in the non governmental sector the work is heavy and it can i cause a dedicated public servant i've been now spit great about this to find a balance in life and so it's really important to maintain that balance that i your home life your private life those activities that rich you because activities that support your health of

independence you got i keep and i know you're keeping those attending to absolutely so you have a chance as you mentioned they get to know and work with bob dole and his first speech in the senate for many of you probably know this but a lot of you probably don't his very first speech on the senate floor after being elected to the united states senate in nineteen sixty eight was on april fourteenth nineteen sixty nine it was on disability was it's at about vaudeville it says he that he's a vanguard leader that he didn't want his own the pain at that he experienced in the word the disability he developed as result of his injuries keep him from pursuing his education from pursuing public service for representing his constituents in really a stellar way to be a a model

statesman and so it's really been an honor to get to know and no he celebrated his nineteenth birthday this summer and he's still working with us on the tree i think every day he thinks about the tree how to remove this for who can i call to encourage them to give it another way to encourage them to build a bridge across the aisle politically so that that same bipartisan show that rock da da it can be brought to successfully treat which encourage young people who probably don't know quite about as much about senator dole to the back and get to know but morse they understand the level of the eichmann i absolutely would i have started to do a little of that myself and having grown up with him as my senator being a kansan it's really been eye opening inspiring and even just looking around at the displays here in the hall of key moments in his political career

it's it's really exciting to have him as a mentor know on down the gap for twenty seven years and a really remarkable and very very good of the law why one last question an open up your questions and answers our final question not tonight david is about coal and it's a it's a very broad one but i think you're very qualified to address it and that is what will his legacy be on disability issues alan in last summer when we had a hearing in the senate foreign relations committee on a cerebral was not feeling up to attending that day that it was such a a pivotal moment in this long march toward moving the tree before that he wrote the statements that he asked john mccain to read to the committee that day and so i think that just as his maiden speech on the floor of the senate has become a historically in such an important moment in his career i hope that this

speech before the senate foreign relations committee has that same inspiration that it is part of his legacy he wrote in there when we passed the americans with disabilities act in nineteen ninety it was not only one of the proudest moments of my career it was a remarkable bipartisan achievement that made an impact on millions of americans it's a simple goal was to foster independence and dignity and it's reasonable accommodations enabled americans with disabilities to contribute more readily to this great country when i hear his words i think about a young bob dole of russell kansas and the russell kansas of today like so much of this great country is now one that respects persons with disabilities and his work has contributed to that that from the smallest town to our greatest cities barriers are falling opportunities are being created and citizens with disabilities are caring for it and

a dignity that bob dole out build a grid that we have quite a bit of time let me know the question will start right here i am i have a question about tying in this strong man that with a more global perspective on disability so strong all it's a historical monument yet that's the world also has many historic monuments so how do you balance or woody recommendations on bouncing that need to preserve these magnificent historical structures but also preserve the respect for people without physical disability in order to access those great things that's a great question and i think that you know i'm not an expert on architectural the pearson and how to do some of the finer points of building inclusive environments around us i know that the historical challenge of many buildings is one that we continue to they scare and so i think that approaching

the challenge has got to be a collaborative approach because i think when we approach it anyway with the collaboration a spirit of collaboration and we can win allies and the problem solving together to and that's part of the our international vision right is too great knowledge across borders so are helping each other build that more accessible society i don't think it's really a chance that salt easily overnight even though the treaty really is it's a vision to guide star how you make it real i'm on the ground and at the most local place where an individual with a disability is requires your bravery in that individual allies around the community that supports them and so it's something we ought to be together and it's actually a work that we have to undertake to roll up their sleeves and work that we

ought to students here's your school your last question of the shuttle that one over here preceded your discussion and i don't edit out there something you were so than someone says with the atf has been passed some people might ask why we really need to pass crp be it the eighties campbell model for the convention nights people disability what we need to do that all over again by wednesday were doing it all over again the eighties as a foundation for the united states in our civil rights and enter treatment of our citizens with disabilities but the tree is larger than that spans the spectrum of life or childhood to education to the workplace to the right to enter the voting booth and so i think that again that opportunity to have a new tool kit and our tool boxes advocates to realize the

vision of an inclusive society item as spy opportunity to come to the table with the world community as a rarified party is an opportunity not only for the american people vote for our private sector interests and certainly for the us government as a voice on human rights to be able to confirm but the us does stand up for human rights and iran should be at the table in the global human rights dialogue is an important opportunity for our country as well i was just curious if your efforts not only have means to open doors for those with physical disabilities will also those with developmental disabilities are how i hope so and the vision of the treaty is one that doesn't separate one group from another it refers to people with disabilities and so i my hope is that

as we work toward a more inclusive global society we're not leaving anybody behind we're taking the event persons that we might be inclined to perceive as challenging for independence they can we can live in dignity and independence needing support is not an embarrassment or something to be ashamed of who among us will not need support at some point in our lives and if you're a person with a developmental disability that i the need for support has been a part of your your full life experience you're still unequal member of the society just as a person who didn't support an aged into need some support in the last years of their lives and so i hope that

the vision of the treaty is one that is lifting everyone up together could get a question right here they're so what can you tell us about our own us senators position on the treaty and how we can be more effective in responding to some other concerns thank you as well it was a disappointment to me as a cancer and i think senator dole and to many kansans the senators roberts and iran were no votes last december when given the opportunity to vote for the treaty are i hope that by your efforts as advocates you can employ them to give it a second look neither senators seated on the senate foreign relations committee had this time so they're going to be watching themselves to see what is the committee do with the tree what is the package that the committee passes it when they have a package they can given that a second

look but if they don't have constituents asking them to take that second word it could be something that they could just bypass and that would really be another disappointment and so i would encourage you to visit don't read every the va disability treat there art and and take on that advocacy role make those calls certainly when the senators are home if they have a town hall in your community go to it and raise the issue asked them to give him a second look and i would you encourage if you take that route to take people with disabilities with you and me really let's have a frank discussion with our lawmakers about this and get them a question right here think of one of pigmentation africa africa and i am a prisoner of the now they

want to know a really love the idea of about a mission as that adds and the issue of these concerns now they want to know if you have a deep into our people to be a gimmicky internationals to be believed if they believe the latter aren't in the united state indyk and you're fighting them in that i mean in any big event taking what your intervention in the in in the end international fear if we will work if you have a deep in what people have to add new graduate here in your opinion in your intervention in that international fear yes i think that there's a real hunger among international development practitioners particularly to build their knowledge about disability ag in that spirit nothing about us without us we need it professionals who have disabilities to go into this work of international development and foreign policy we've created an internship you said that empowers students with

disabilities who won a work in international affairs or development to come to washington for a summer and in turn in international development and geo and not to work on a disability portfolio of projects but to work on the mainstream body of projects that these organizations are doing often doing without the support of the us government that is a strategy to bring out more disability clinician into the international development sector as i meet international a practitioner years there really is so the mix of excitement about this new twenty first century air out disability equality and nondiscrimination and the idea that development programs should include people just lose but there's also survey perplexity how we do it and so i think that we have the opportunity to solve that for the tiger year to help solve

day we'll go back here now david i want to thank you i've learned laughter me tonight what they were now from david headley ever worked with just a dark the grandfather of disabilities and that that president obama have at an afghan press that committee thank you cathy law cathy is a wonderful self evident in the bundestag to you and carson educates people with disabilities to lift their voices and so i thank you for the work you do i didn't know just and i was speaking earlier about having had the benefit of inheriting the worker advocates before me who blazed a trail and justin was someone who didn't we have his picture hanging in her office and i have members of our board of directors who personally did work with justin and their voice in this war

ii brings his voice to this war and regularly on conference calls are one were trying to just even energize each other day carry forward in the work week how will quote him and that's an honor to get to keep his spirit alive his widow i your sugar dark lives in the washington community and is a regular at not only are then spit a disability community events all the time so it is it's a joy to get to know her and have her adding energy for work and president obama has really i really do great team of people with disabilities in his administration in the different agencies so in the department of labor are looking at how to improve employment research with disabilities the administration an intellectual and developmental

disabilities looking at health care and on the new a cia how does this new day healthcare in america include people with disabilities you know that the package has the end of the exclusion of preexisting conditions something that has been i think terribly marginalizing for people with disabilities ritual and so it's exciting it's an illustration has done it on the face are on the issue of foreign relations i am made you know the ig's yeoman served in president coins administration in the department of education and has had other great experiences in her career including at the world bank hoping on international development thing to think about inclusion now she's back in government service serving as the us special advisor on

international disability rights and so for the state department under the direction of secretary kerry she is looking daily at the situation of people with disabilities around the world we have a question or you have a question that there were go ask the question they very much for coming actually i really enjoyed a discussion on the united nations as i am president omar un so shameless plug maybe with this question as we move forward with issues like this and a globalized them are these international structures and the way to do this is this the form that it has to be done through an almost effectively done through that's an interesting question and no i don't think so i think that you know people always find a way to chop saw some of our greatest challenges particularly in the last twenty years we've seen the real expansion of social entrepreneur allison and young

people who have great ideas not waiting for government or international organizations to take on solving these charges but they're taking in on themselves and sometimes it's one community at a time i'm but it's making a difference and so i think that that sort of a grassroots approach has had as a trickle effect that then the big institutions of the world the un's and w h o's an aiello is look at that and see how this really good stuff going on here we gotta get out of the way and let that stuff happen or how can we help support it to have an even broader her so i think that they are these international organizations like the un can be a very complex very bureaucratic and i wouldn't let a good idea spoil him a line waiting to try to move through those organizations when the private sector can actually push it

really very effectively that question i'm here for and as an organization that links up with a disability organizations worldwide in particular in the global south how you account for or talk about the global developmental processes that are disabling to many citizens worldwide a particular way military conflicts pollution toxic waste and industrialization on those glasses which are not necessarily talk about inclusion but rather be a lamentation of some of these horrible practices and that's a great question and i think that the some of the advocacy efforts for a cleaner environment for example for our conflict resolution are some of the most inclusive movements they i'm seeing people a disability in the us and so that's it exciting and i think that

reflects a younger generation that particularly here in the united states grew up in a post it a world where going to school and being in an inclusive classroom the idea that my co workers or michael visionaries to pursue our own world changed now is one that has informed them that we can do this together with people with disabilities at the table and so on the ground challenge that pollution or armed conflict is not just to it's to society at large right and so people with disabilities are vulnerable again and so i think about the organization and handicap international that is working in landmine eradication around the world and people with disabilities are cars vulnerable to left behind

landmines as their non disabled neighbors and so it's a it's an effort to prevent additional disability through this where you have a question for you if a disability related non profit organization wants to register with icy be what steps do they need to go through id thank you cherish so tell us a cd where membership organization and again we represent the american community in in the disability community and so if you're an individual you can join use it in its twenty five dollars for your membership or if you are with a nonprofit organization you can join and we have a membership rolls for non profits as well i was no tests to get involved but i i'll say we need you we need to keep growing this tent organizations they care about this issue i have since the treaty campaign has really

become a national campaign i have been honored to get to speak to a whole variety of audiences that wyler more to care about this issue and so it's really exciting to be building allies out beyond disability stakeholders that more broadly trying courage folks to come in any other questions your chance of that what i hear i wondered with your experience internationally we value independence and individuality so much in the us army is there was here at be flexible and other nations just what they eat the way they want scorsese's with disabilities today question yes trees river guide star and it still allows con countries to develop in their own culturally relevant way too one yes embrace a global standard about the human

rights dignity of persons with disabilities to end discrimination i think that theres not underground on that i think you're making a commitment as a country to uplift uses and disability but i love the idea of independence autonomy decision making to guide one's own life there are nuances different cultures and how we do that and i don't think that a global standard like to see or pd anyway challenges that i think it actually supports it the treaty mentions how the family is the sentry a society and that it's in the best interests of people with disabilities to have strong families around us deeply for children with disabilities so in no way does the treaty you know undercut those core human values question here and you mention that some companies and perhaps us companies had

endorsed the disability treaty to happen off the top your head what's in the names of those companies would be we held a briefing in the senate is on capitol hill this past june two present the business case for education and some of the country companies who stood up for the treaty that day including ibm adobe at and t i think that we're going to see additional companies soon on our own i sort of coalition letter of corporate interests altogether describing themselves to the same statement that will make that available on disability dot org there's very very your great advocate thank you for joining us david morrissey executive director of the us international council on disability he spoke with bill lacy director of the dole institute of politics at the university of kansas on october twenty second two thousand and thirteen you can learn more about the treaty and the us international council on

disabilities at daddy daddy daddy you'd guide us i c e d dot org or disability treaty dot org again the dole institute of politics awarded its annual dog leadership rise today to another disability rights activist john camp president and ceo of the vickery center the center is a nonprofit organization in new york it provides a wide range of services to educate in life and in our people and things her presentation of the door leader supplies will be featured on a future keep your presents i'm kate mcintyre keep your present is a production of kansas public radio at the university of kansas