I am concerned about the UN Convention Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
There are several established laws and protections already in our own country to give those with disabilities rights, entitlements and freedoms. One of them is our very own Constitution. We also have the IDEA, Social Security, Equal Housing Opportunity, etc. I like the fact that we, as a country, have the opportunity to decide what we ourselves, our children, parents and other loved ones need and how currently we decide within our own country what those needs are without the input from un elected foreign officials.
Canada has signed the CRPD. Whether the CRPD formed the mind set that only government officials know what is best for a child or the fact that the treaty DID NOT protect the child or family, it is important to note the case of Ayn Van Dyk.
The little girl, Ayn, was taken from her family, because she has Autism. Without question, the government agreed that no abuse or neglect had taken place. Even knowing this, the government officials forced what they believed was in the 'best interests' for Ayn, including placing her into an institution and drugging her. It may be a person like Mother Teresa that has a position in the government to decide or a person like Mary Kay Letourneau or Gary Ridgeway. The point being, however, is that now someone else gets to decide what is in your, or your child's, or your loved ones best interests using their values and beliefs.
I know firsthand of how corruptions within a governmental system can deny justice, the guaranteed protections and rights for those with disabilities. Power can still be abused with or without laws, but it is more likely that the power will be abused when you take it and place it in the hands of another. This is really the biggest reason why those with disabilities are targeted, because they depend on others to help them.
This treaty hands the rights of people with disabilities over to the government to decide their fate. Belgium is a good example, because if the CRPD really did protect individuals with disabilities, this eugenics program would not exist. I agree that many individuals with disabilities are abused. We personally know several individuals who had been abused and taken advantage of by their caregivers. But still, I have to question how this treaty is going to stop the abuse, when those who do abuse others are not law abiding anyway? They do not care about other people's rights and we already have laws that will punish those who commit abuse.
What this treaty really does is to take away from law abiding parents, who do care about their children with disabilities, the power to advocate for their loved ones. We will be scrutinized by others, whether or not the decisions we are making are classified (by them) as is in our child's "best interests." And again, this is applying someone else's values and beliefs. Plus, it is using the standard of "best" and it will be leaving families open to being forced into the latest trends in society.
I don't know of a single parent who agrees with every bit of advice out there or a parent who is perfect, but if we are truly going to follow our word as a country, the CRPD will give the government officials the power to ultimately to decide whether we can direct our loved ones care. And since we are not perfect, nor do we think 100% alike, we are setting ourselves up for failure.
Sadly, there is a new right being considered for people and that is the 'right to die.' Even our local paper published a story about the confusion on mercy killings. Do we really want the government deciding that "right" for us, just like in Belgium?
As for the testimony for the CRPD, very few who were opposed to the treaty were allowed to testify and the only people who were experts in international law were the ones actually opposing the treaty. There is a good reason to stay away from that treaty as it has already shown that it does not work to protect the rights of those with disabilities. Our own country, which has not ratified this treaty, has laws that are more superior to most countries who have signed this treaty. If those countries that have already signed the treaty really wanted the 'best' for those with disabilities, they wouldn't need to wait until we signed the treaty to make the changes to help those with disabilities abroad.
Why do we need to sign a treaty to "learn from the best practices of disability rights"?
Most of those countries, who have signed, learned very little from the best practices of disabilities rights (besides how to use the power of "in the best interest" to harm people).
I believe that we are better than that as a nation and we are capable of learning without legally binding ourselves to international law and other countries which blatantly ignore human rights. And how is it that our sovereignty will continue to be safe if we are promising to uphold international standards and will become subject to international law?
We are not safe from losing our parental rights in our own country. In search of cases in our own country where parental rights are being eroded, I discovered out that a babysitter in Chicago obtained custody of a child, because of her relationship with that child.
Even though the mother eventually won her child back in court, this should never have happened if parental rights were secure in America.
In Washington State, the parents of Sheila Marie Sumney restricted their daughter for her drug use and dangerous sexual activities. The judge found that the parents acted reasonably. However, the judge still gave CPS the right to take Sheila away from her family.
In Maryland, children were herded into a courthouse by armed guards and attack dogs to forcefully vaccinate them. The parents were also threatened with jail time if they didn't comply.
In Michigan, Maryanne Godboldo actually had a SWAT team come and take her child, because she refused to give her daughter anymore anti psychotic medication that she believed was making her daughter's condition worse. Maryanne was trying to protect her daughter, but was railroaded by government officials.
These are just a few of the many examples out there of the destruction of parental rights in which our own government interfered by claiming what they were doing was in the 'best interest' of the people involved. What we need to do is empower those with disabilities and their families to take charge of their care and not give our freedoms away to bureaucrats.
In closing, the CRPD does not help or protect the majority of people with disabilities, but it does give exclusive power to the government to determine what is in a person's 'best interests.'
It is nothing more than a power grab, exploiting those with disabilities in our country. It is the antithesis of freedom and this needs to be stopped. When asking the majority of those with disabilities or those who are aging and are in need of someone to make decisions about their care, which do you believe most people would want directing their care: the government or a loved one?
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