International Disability Rights

On May 9th & 10th 2012, there was a U.S. Leadership Conference on International Disability Rights. There continues to be very serious violations including what may be referred to as mercy killings of children with disabilities and infanticide. If you do a search you will find a number of articles on both sides of this. The Conference and others are supporting the Ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) which addresses this issue and many others. I have included some video from the conference. We must all be a part of these discussions and make sure those with disabilities are always included. How can you tell at birth what types of contributions someone will be making? I cannot tell you how many of the families I have known throughout the years were told to place their children in institutions, or that they will never walk, talk, think etc. Each time the medical professional was wrong and sometimes significantly wrong. Some of these children graduated from college. Some only see difference and limitation. We need to put the person first and help others do the same.