A ConventionYES! petition request in support of the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities today. It is originally courtesy of a member post at DisabilityConvention (Yahoo! group). The verbage below along with other information available at the ConventionYES! website tell it better than these fingertips could just now.

Petition in support of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Over five hundred million people, nearly 10 percent of the world’s population, have a disability.

Every day, millions of people with disabilities are subjected to inhumane and degrading treatment, including forced institutionalization and physical abuse.

Existing legal protections are not sufficient to safeguard the rights of people with disabilities, especially in developing countries where approximately two thirds of people with disabilities live.

Even in the few countries that have passed comprehensive disability legislation, people with disabilities still face mistreatment, discrimination and barriers to access and inclusion in employment, housing, education, transportation, emergency assistance and other services.

It’s time for change.

The United Nations (UN) is currently negotiating a treaty, called the "Comprehensive and Integral International Convention to Promote and Protect the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities1," to ensure that human rights standards are extended to people with disabilities. Please add your name to our online petition urging government leaders to ratify a strong Convention.

The petition itself states:

Petition: I support the full and universal recognition of the human rights of people with disabilities under national and international law.

I am concerned about the current track record of abuses against people with disabilities in all parts of the world. I am alarmed by forced institutionalization and troubled by the lack of international standards for inclusion in voting, housing, education, transportation, emergency assistance and other sectors.

I support current efforts to create a UN treaty, called a Convention, to protect the human rights of people with disabilities.

I believe it is important that all nations support the UN convention process, sign and ratify the resulting treaty and fully comply with all international standards protecting the rights of people with disabilities.

I urge decision-makers at all national and international levels to support the UN Convention process.

The Petition..