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How Outraged are you?

I am outraged. The Senate of the United States of America failed to pass a treaty that would have recognized the human rights of people with disabilities.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?  The U.S. Senate?  Republican opposed the UN Conventions on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities because it “threatened US Sovereignty and those who home school their children”? I am dumb founded.

In our own country we are all subject to the Americans with Disabilities Act that provides accommodations to be made for people with disabilities.  We provide braille in public buildings and in elevators for those who are blind.  We provide special bathrooms with larger stalls for wheel chairs and with grab bars. We provide special parking places.  And this is as it should be.  Upholding the dignity of those who have some kind of physical or mental challenge is critical and upholding their civil and human rights essential!

Here is the purpose as stated in the UN Convention on Persons with Disabilities:

The purpose of the present Convention is to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by all persons with disabilities, and to promote respect for their inherent dignity.

Persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.

What could be problematic with this?  Shame on our Senate.  Even former  Republican Senate leader Bob Dole of Kansas came to lobby for the passage of the Treaty.  I am not trying to be partisan on this.

But to treat those whose bodies are differently abled in this way when our own laws of our country grant human rights and equal rights to those with disabilities is nothing more than hypocrisy and frankly immorality.  Our country should encourage all the countries of the world to help those who can’t stand on their own! Literally.

We Jews believe in B’tzelem Elohim–that all are created in the image of God. This political posturing violates our Jewish values.

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