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Tuesday, May 22, 2007

By Paul Aronsohn and Marcie Roth
The Bergen Record

It is a shameful story – one that needs to be retold.

On March 30, the United Nations General Assembly was filled to near capacity with government representatives and civil rights advocates. In ceremonial fashion, the world body was committing itself to a landmark set of principles in support of the human rights of more than 650 million people worldwide with disabilities. Eighty countries, including our European allies, walked – one-by-one – to the dais to sign the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

There was only one member nation missing from the hall – one country that refused not only to sign the historic document, but also refused even to show up and be represented: the United States of America.

Granted, the Bush administration's poor performance at the United Nations is nothing new. Kyoto. Iraq. Women's health. The administration has a long, disappointing track record when it comes to the establishment and enforcement of international norms.

But its behavior during this particular signing ceremony took the administration's arrogance and indifference to a new level – one that directly affects the lives of 54 million Americans with disabilities and one that further underscores the need for a change in leadership and a change in the way we, as a society, treat people with disabilities.

Opportune Time

And frankly, the timing couldn't be better. With a presidential election just around the corner, the time is right for a national discussion of a key civil rights challenge of our era: guaranteeing equal protection and equal opportunity for people with disabilities. This community represents more than one-sixth of our population, making it the largest minority group in the country.

Specifically, the presidential candidates of both major parties should engage this discussion by making disability rights a central plank in their respective platforms. It would not only be the right thing to do; it would be the smart thing to do. With 40 million potential voters – many of whom are exercising their rights to accessible voting for the first time since passage of the Help America Vote Act – the disability community is a vote-rich segment of the population.

To this end, we offer a few suggestions for the candidates:

Special Assistant To The President: The next president should create a permanent administrative post, special assistant to the president for disability issues. Such a top-tier position existed to a lesser degree in each of the last two administrations, but has recently been staffed by rotating, temporary federal employees. A permanent special assistant would guarantee the disability community a long overdue voice in White House discussions on everything from the economy and homeland security to education and health care.

Special Education: The next president should fully fund special education. By law, the federal government is supposed to pick up 40 percent of the special education tab. In practice, however, it has never even come close to meeting this obligation. The next president must use both pen and pulpit to ensure a resource-rich special education initiative. The next president must also fully enforce federal special education law – a step critical to ensuring children with disabilities receive the quality public education they need to lead productive lives.

Veterans: The next president should make health-care funding for veterans a mandatory budget item rather than a discretionary one. The Veterans Administration should not have to beg year-after-year to provide our nation's veterans with the quality health care that they need and deserve. And with so many soldiers coming home from Iraq with disabilities, the need for such mandatory care is great.

Home And Community Services: The next president should support legislation that gives Americans community-based long-term care, services and supports. We must end the forced institutionalization of older and disabled people, and instead, we must provide the community services, housing, assistive technology and devices that promote health, employment, independence and full community participation.

U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: And the next president should, of course, sign the U.N. convention. We are the greatest nation on earth. We should act like it.

Rising to this great civil rights challenge should not be a partisan issue. Disability – in all of its many forms – affects Republican and Democrat alike. But it should be a political issue – one that figures prominently on the campaign trail and in the heart and mind of our next president.

Paul Aronsohn of Ridgewood was the 2006 Democratic congressional candidate in New Jersey's 5th District and has a sister with disabilities. Marcie Roth is the CEO of the National Spinal Cord Injury Association and the parent of two children with disabilities.