ACTION ALERT: The U.N. Wants Control Over YOUR Disabled Child

If you are the parent or family member of a disabled child, there is an urgent call to action. Over just the past several days, supporters of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) have ramped up their efforts to get politicians to change their vote. Last December, CRPD was shot down in the senate, but they’re getting another chance after Congress returns in September. President Obama gave a speech in front of the Disabled American Veterans last week and told them how disappointed he was that the Senate didn’t approve the Disabilities Treaty. He added, “But we’re going to keep fighting to ratify that treaty, because the United States has always been a leader for the rights of the disabled.” Also last week, Secretary of State John Kerry released a video urging the ratification of CRPD.

The Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) is fighting to stop the treaty for several reasons, primarily because it threatens homeschooling and parental rights. It will also override states rights and give up national sovereignty to UN officials we never elected! You might be familiar with HSLDA from their work trying to allow the Romeike family stay in the U.S. after leaving Germany when threatened with jail for homeschooling their children. If you haven’t heard of them, check out the case. It shows exactly where the Obama administration and Eric Holder’s Department of Justice stand on homeschooling. Yes, you should be very afraid. Michael P. Farris, Esq., the founder and chairman of HSLDA put together a specific list of problems with CRPD in relation to homeschooling, parental rights and state sovereignty. For example:

• Any remaining state sovereignty on the issue of disability law will be entirely eliminated by the ratification of this treaty.
• Article 4(1)(a) demands that all American law on this subject be conformed to the standards of the UN.
• Article 6(2) is a backdoor method of requiring the United States to comply with the general provisions of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. This treaty enshrines abortion rights, homosexual rights, and demands the complete disarmament of all people.
• Article 7(2) advances the identical standard for the control of children with disabilities as is contained in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. This means that the government—acting under UN directives—gets to determine for all children with disabilities what the government thinks is best. Under this section the government—and not the parent—would have the ultimate authority to determine if a child with special needs will be homeschooled, attend a private school, or be required to accept the program offered by the public school.
• Article 15’s call for a ban on “inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” is the exact same language used in the UN CRC which has been authoritatively interpreted to ban any spanking by parents. It should be noted that Article 15 is not limited to persons with disabilities. It says “no one shall be subjected to … inhuman or degrading treatment.” This means that spanking will be banned entirely in the United States.

As you can see, even with just snippets of examples, our parental rights are in serious danger. The Americans with Disabilities Act and other U.S. laws already provide strong protection of our disabled citizens. HSLDA says, “Ratification of the CRPD was rejected by the U.S. Senate on December 4, 2012 by a 61–38 vote.” They point out that the treaty pushers; Senators Harry Reid (NV), John Barrasso (WY), Dick Durbin (IL), John McCain (AZ), Tom Harkin (IA), John Kerry, President Barack Obama, and former Senator Bob Dole (KS), are coming on strong. They were only six votes shy of ratification! In Kerry’s new video, he claimed the treaty does “not require one change to an American law” and “does not contain one single onerous mandate.” To that, the director of federal relations for HSLDA, Will Estrada, said, “They’re either ignoring that or willfully lying about it,” noting Article 18 of the treaty requires a national registry of children born with disabilities.

Of my eight children, three of my boys have varying degrees of autism. My 23-year-old and my 9-year-old have Asperger’s Syndrome and my 11-year-old, Nathan, has classic autism. When Nathan first started attending school, he was placed in a fantastic program with a group of teachers than sincerely cared for him. When he ‘aged out’ of that program and was placed in a new school, it was horrible. Almost immediately he started crying all the time, begging not to go to school, refusing to get dressed, being unable to fall asleep and once he did, he had awful night terrors. In addition, we had serious objections to how the classroom was ran. When it came to the point where we had to do something, the district told us, “That’s the only program available for his age.”

Homeschooling was our most viable option. I’d done it before when our older kids were young, but truthfully, I’d done an awful job that I did not care to repeat! However, when I think of the possibility of anyone…a teacher, the county, the state, the UN…forcing my boy to sit still for extended periods of time and getting punished for stimming (repetitive motions such as running, rocking, squealing and hand-flapping that helps some people with autism feel calmer and more in control. In Nathan’s case it’s running back and forth for about 20 seconds), it makes my skin crawl. As his mother, I understood that he was so anxious that he couldn’t learn. We’re already facing insurmountable trouble because of Common Core Standards, adding CRPD would make it near impossible to homeschool, especially your disabled child. Patriot Voices, a group heavily involved with stopping CRPD, says, “While CRPD may, on the surface, appear to protect those with disabilities, it actually gives the government the power, with direction from the U.N., to decide what is best for our children.”

Naturally, supporters of the treaty are performing in full-Alinsky mode, attacking those who refuse to let it pass. In December, The New Civil Rights Movement said of the 38 Republican Senators who voted against it, “If there is a Hell, these 38 just earned some frequent flyer miles toward a long-term stay there.” They even have talking points to counter the truth. While the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Obama, Kerry and others are aggressively lobbying the senators to change their vote, parents and concerned citizens need to take action now. While we can value schools, teachers, doctors and others involved in the care and well-being of our kids, we are their voices. Our voices have delayed the ratification of CRPD, and we must use our voices to rid our country of the threat that CRPD poses.

For information on contacting your senators during the recess, please click HERE.