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"This Convention must not be simply another ritual of words to allow paternalists and bit players to say they have done their duty to people with disabilities. It must guarantee stronger, not weaker, rights and remedies, and laws like ADA. If we want a meaningful convention, we must give up business as usual and fight as if the lives of billions depended on it, because they do.
"Almost all great moral revolutions have been led by apparently ordinary people who became passionate, single-minded advocates who destroyed stereotypes with the magic sword of truth, who transcended politics, hate and fear, and united the people in their personal universes, who struggled for a world of justice. You do have the power to create an international convention that will be the declaration of independence for billions of people in the 21st century. No soldier ever died for a better cause."
Welcome to RatifyNow!
RatifyNow was founded by lifelong disability rights advocates who worked with other advocates at the United Nations to produce the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Our membership is comprised of individuals and organizations who are passionate about using the CRPD to protect and advance the rights of people with disabilities worldwide.
We started RatifyNow to support the efforts of disability rights advocates to persuade their national governments to ratify the CRPD and its Optional Protocol without reservations. Our goal is to use the Internet to offer a forum where people with disabilities, government officials, and journalists can learn about the treaty, and support grassroots efforts to promote ratification.
Visitors to our website will find a variety of ratification advocacy tools, from a rich variety of helpful sources, presented in a user-friendly fashion. We will include not just the advocacy product, but also contact information for its creators and a step-by-step blueprint that traces its development. Our hope is to highlight strategies that can be broadly adapted for local use by providing detailed roadmaps and facilitating dialogue so that advocates can obtain advice and support directly from those who have developed effective ratification tools.
By pooling our efforts, each of us can become more effective and maintain high morale by sharing and learning from the success of our counterparts. We hope you’ll take a few minutes to explore our website, and that you’ll return frequently for updates. RatifyNow is intended to reflect the CRPD principle that everyone should be provided with opportunities in life; your individual comments and contributions are desired and valued. To stay informed about the latest CRPD ratification efforts, consider joining our free list serve by clicking here.
RatifyNow is an organization that was started by, for, and about people with disabilities, and we welcome individual and organizational allies without disabilities to join us.
Our growing list of organizational members include:
ADA Watch and the National Coalition for Disability Rights
Advocating Change Together (ACT)
American Association of People with Disabilities
Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund
International Center for Disability Resources on the Internet
International Indigenous
Disability Convention Working Group
Mental Disability Advocacy Center
Mental Disability Rights International
National Association of the Deaf (NAD)
National Association for Rights Protection and Advocacy
National Association of Law Students with Disabilities
National Council on Independent Living
National Organization on Disability
National Spinal Cord Injury Association
United States International Council on Disability