William & Mary Law Professor Michael A. Stein,
an expert on domestic and international disability law, was on hand at
the White House on July 24 for the Obama administration's announcement
that the United States will sign the United Nations Convention on the
Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) later this month. Stein, who
also serves as Executive Director of the Harvard Law School Project on
Disability, was among the few American members of the Ad Hoc Committee
that drafted and negotiated the treaty, which was adopted by the U.N. in
2006 and has been signed by 139 nations and ratified by 58. Stein
will attend the signing at the U.N. on July 31.
The CRPD guarantees and protects the rights of the
approximately 650 million people with disabilities worldwide.
Stein said that while the U.S. led the way internationally in disability
rights, as evidenced by the Rehabilitation Act, the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act, the
Bush administration had been "disengaged" with the development and
adoption of the treaty.
In an on-line commentary, published July 9 in "Foreign Policy in Focus",
Stein and his co-author Janet E. Lord argue that the signing of the
treaty and its submission to the Senate for ratification provide the
current administration an opportunity for "reaffirming the commitment of
the United States rejoining the global community generally, and to
continuing American leadership in the area of disability law and
policy."
Stein has provided counsel to international lawmakers on disability law
and policies and has worked on implementing the CRPD in a number of
countries. In addition, he serves as a legal counsel to several
organizations, among them Rehabilitation International and Special
Olympics. His numerous articles have been published in leading law
journals and he is a co-author of a book about the treaty, which will be
published by Cambridge University Press. Stein joined the William &
Mary faculty in 2000 and also has taught at Harvard, New York University
and Stanford law schools.
