“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.”