WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Chairman of the U.S. Helsinki Commission, called today for Senate ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The United States has already established strong support for the rights of people with disabilities through the Americans with Disabilities Act and ratification of the CRPD would provide an opportunity to advance these values worldwide.

“We should be proud, as Americans, of our Nation’s leadership in making it easier for people with disabilities to participate fully in society, to have equal access to educational, economic, and social opportunities for self-fulfillment and advancement. By ratifying the CRPD, the United States would have a say in how people with disabilities are treated around the world,” Senator Cardin said, “And with Veterans Day just around the corner, we owe it to our disabled veterans and our wounded warriors to ensure that they have the same opportunities and protections as other Americans when they travel, work, and study abroad.”

Today’s hearing in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was one of two hearings on the United Nations Convention of on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Senator Cardin was pleased to acknowledge Marylander Rhonda Neuhaus who attended today’s hearing. Ms. Neuhaus is a graduate of the University of Maryland School of Law and a bilateral amputee. Ms. Neuhaus knows firsthand the importance of ratifying the treaty and has spent much of her career working to implement the CRPD internationally.

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