Testimony of John L. Wodatch Before the Foreign Relations Committee Of the United States Senate

III. Benefits of Ratification

So why ratify? I strongly believe that ratification of the Disabilities Convention is in the best interests of the United States, provides protections for Americans with disabilities, and promotes U.S. business interests.

Our failure to ratify the Disabilities Convention, which so clearly follows the pattern of disability rights laws and programs pioneered in the United States, has hampered the position of the United States as a world leader on disability rights issues. While the ADA will continue to be the linchpin of US domestic nondiscrimination policy, the international community uses the treaty as the basis for legal and policy approaches to disability policy. Ratification will enable the United States to have an official place at the table and share our experience with other ratifying nations as they shape emerging disability rights policies and laws in their countries. It will enable us to seek a place on the Disabilities Committee (which is only open to experts from countries that have ratified) and focus the efforts of the Committee on fundamental and important issues.

Ratification will also allow the United States to take a more proactive role in the protection of U.S citizens abroad. Persons with disabilities, including our veterans, now work, study, travel, serve, and retire across the world. But our citizens still face limited opportunities and architectural barriers. An active U.S presence on implementation of the Disabilities Convention will help ensure that our citizens and service members will encounter fewer architectural barriers and a more welcoming environment.

Ratification of the treaty will also help U.S. businesses take advantage of the potential benefits of the treaty. Estimates of the number of persons with disabilities across the world now reach one billion persons. As these persons receive opportunities in their countries, they will need accessible devices, from wheelchairs and other mobility aids and services to new technologies, including smart phones and accessible software for their computers. Many of these products are engineered, made, or sold by U.S. corporations, who will benefit from an active U.S. presence to reach this emerging new source of revenue.

Ratification and the concomitant reemergence of U.S. leadership will also help American multinational corporations level the playing field. For the past twenty-two years American companies have followed a number of domestic requirements, including reasonable accommodation for their workers and accessible facilities for their customers. Unfortunately, their foreign counterparts did not have to follow such a regimen. Ratification of the Convention will enable the U.S. more actively to ensure that other nations that have ratified the Convention actually take the steps to enforce the treaty’s accessibility and employment provisions and provide a level playing field for American companies.

Additionally, ratification and an active American presence can result in economies of scale for U.S. companies. Many U.S. multinational companies, including quick service restaurants and hotel chains, create and implement standard design plans for their U.S. facilities, but face different requirements for their building in other countries. Ratification will enable the United States to push for consistent accessible standards for buildings and create the ability for U.S. multinational companies to follow one template for their accessibility requirements worldwide, resulting in cost savings. 

Ratification of the Convention presents an opportunity for the Senate and the President to reaffirm the traditional American values of the treaty, nondiscrimination and equality of opportunity, and provides a forum to advance these values worldwide. The package of RUDs sent forward by the Administration and the specific interpretations found in the Secretary’s Report address the concerns that have been identified by outside observers regarding safeguarding American sovereignty and U.S. law.

The Disabilities Convention has been ratified by 115 nations. The time for Senate action to ratify this treaty is now. When he signed the ADA on July 26, 1990, President George H.W. Bush said: “Let the shameful wall of exclusion finally come tumbling down.” The words and concepts that he signed into law are now in the laws and constitutions of countries around the world and form the basis for the Disabilities Convention. It is time for the United States to reposition itself as a world leader to help bring down these walls of exclusion for all nations around the globe and help make the world accessible for Americans with disabilities, including our veterans, and for American multinational businesses.

Thank you for your attention.